Anon Mgr 20^VII

Ítarligr er öllum betri
eingla grundar blessaðr þeingill;
lýðr er allur leiftra stillis
lofi dýrligstu skyldr að ofra.
Öllum hlutum er æðri og sælli
eilífligastr skepnu deilir;
honum sie dýrð á himni og jörðu;
hann er hæri en gjörvalt annað.

{Ítarligr, blessaðr þeingill {grundar eingla}} er betri öllum; allur lýðr er skyldr að ofra dýrligstu lofi {stillis leiftra}. {Eilífligastr deilir skepnu} er æðri og sælli öllum hlutum; dýrð sie honum á himni og jörðu; hann er hæri en gjörvalt annað.

{The glorious, blessed lord {of the land of angels}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God] is better than everyone; all people are obliged to lift up the most precious praise {of the prince of lightnings} [= God]. {The most eternal ordainer of creation} [= God] is more distinguished and blessed than all things; glory be to him in heaven and on earth; he is higher than everything else.

Mss: 713(125)

Readings: [5-8] ‘’ abbrev. as ‘Avllum hlutum er ædri ok.’ 713

Editions: Skj AII, 476, Skj BII, 511, Skald II, 279, NN §1669; Kahle 1898, 60, Sperber 1911, 34-5, Wrightson 2001, 10.

Notes: [2] grundar ‘of the land’: Skj B construes this word as a determinant in stillis leiftra ‘of the prince of lightnings’ where grundar leiftra ‘of the land of lightnings’ is taken as a kenning for ‘heaven’. This creates a convoluted w.o. (see NN §1669), but kennings of a similar type to those proposed in Skj B are by no means unprecedented; cf. Meissner, 380-4. — [5-8]: For this refrain, see 16/5-8.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
7. Wrightson, Kellinde, ed. 2001. Fourteenth-Century Icelandic Verse on the Virgin Mary: Drápa af Maríugrát, Vitnisvísur af Maríu, Maríuvísur I-III. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 14. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.