Anon Pét 7^VII

Virði várar gerðir
valliga, þó að halliz
brott af hreinum hætti,
herr, kvæðis að verri.
Þá má hilmi heima
hjálpríkum vel líka;
skýrr og skjótr að heyra
skilr hann hvers manns vilja.

Herr virði várar gerðir valliga, þó að brott halliz að verri af hreinum hætti kvæðis. Þá má vel líka {hjálpríkum hilmi heima}; skýrr og skjótr að heyra, skilr hann hvers manns vilja.

Let people judge our [my] versifications considerately, even if they deviate for the worse from the pure measure of a poem. Then it may be well pleasing {to the help-mighty king of worlds} [= God]; knowing and quick to hear, he understands each man’s desire.

Mss: 621(57v) (Pétr)

Readings: [2] að: om. 621    [4] herr kvæðis: ‘herrkædis’ 621;    verri: væri 621

Editions: Skj AII, 501, Skj BII, 546-7, Skald II, 300, NN §1715; Kahle 1898, 79, 109.

Notes: [1] gerðir ‘versifications’: Cf. AEW: gerð 1 (from gera ‘to make/do’ etc.). With the sense ‘(verse-)makings’, cf. LP: hróðr-, ljóða-, lof-, óð-gørð (cf. OED: making, vbl. sb.¹ 3 ‘Poetical composition; poetizing, versifying’). — [2] valliga ‘considerately’: On aðalhending of valliga : halliz see Kock, NN §680. — [4]: Kahle 1898, 109 notes that the ms. reading ‘herrkædis’ makes no sense and does not provide aðalhending. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) takes herr as the subject of virði (l. 1), and kæðis as kvæðis, gen. sg. of kvæði, but merely observes that at væri is corrupt. Kock (NN §1715) proposes the emendation adopted here of ms. ‘væri’ to verri (late comparative dat. pl.: cf. ANG §435, Anm. 1). — [5] hilmi heima ‘king of worlds [= God]’: Cf. Meissner, 378.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
9. OED = Murray, J. A. H. et al., eds. 1884-1928. The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon. 2nd edn 1989. Simpson, J. A. and E. S. C. Weiner, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
10. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.