Anon Leið 7^VII

Varð bréf, þats guð gerði
geðsnjallr ok lét falla
— vôns á gipt — á grœna
grund, sunnudag fundit.
Bók* réðu þá blíðir
byrskíðs viðir síðan
— verðr, sás vensk á dýrðir,
vítr — gollstǫfum ritna.

Bréf, þats geðsnjallr guð gerði ok lét falla á grœna grund, varð fundit sunnudag; vôns á gipt. {Blíðir viðir {byrskíðs}} réðu síðan þá bók*, ritna gollstǫfum; verðr vítr, sás vensk á dýrðir.

The letter, which valiant-minded God made and let fall onto the green ground, was discovered on a Sunday; there is an expectation of grace. {Gentle trees {of the wind-ski}} [SHIP > SEAFARERS] later interpreted that book, written with gold letters; he will become wise who accustoms himself to glories.

Mss: B(10v), 624(86)

Readings: [5] Bók*: ‘becks’ B, 624

Editions: Skj AI, 619, Skj BI, 624, Skald I, 303, NN §3248; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 59, Rydberg 1907, 5, Attwood 1996a, 61, 172.

Notes: [5] bók* ‘book’: It is not possible to use B’s and 624’s reading ‘becks’. Although bekkr ‘bench’ may be compounded with expressions for the sea in ship-kennings (as, for example, in SnSt Ht 75/2^III: hafbekkr ‘sea-bench’), the man-kenning viðir bekks byrskíðs ‘trees of the bench of the wind-ski’, which seems to be the only possible arrangement, would be tautologous: byrskíð ‘wind-ski’ is already an acceptable ship-kenning. Kock (NN §3248) suggests that þá (l. 5), interpreted as an adv., should be construed with síðan (l. 6), but even this arrangement does not solve the problem of ‘becks’, since it would leave réðu (l. 5) without an object. With Rydberg and Finnur Jónsson this edn adopts Sveinbjörn Egilsson’s emendation to bók*, understood as a reference to the Sunday Letter, and qualified by the adj. ritna ‘written’ (l. 8).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
5. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1844. Fjøgur gømul kvæði. Boðsrit til að hlusta á þá opinberu yfirheyrslu í Bessastaða Skóla þann 22-29 mai 1844. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla. Bessastaðir: Helgi Helgason.
7. Internal references
8. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 75’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1186.