ESk Geisl 66^VII

Ǫld nýtr Óláfs mildi
— jǫfurs dýrð hǫfum skýrða —
þróttar hvass at þessum
þreksnjǫll frama ǫllum.
Lúti landsfolk ítrum
lim salkonungs himna;
sæll es hverr, es hollan
hann gervir sér, manna.

Þreksnjǫll ǫld nýtr mildi Óláfs hvass þróttar at ǫllum þessum frama; hǫfum skýrða dýrð jǫfurs. Landsfolk lúti {{{himna sal}konungs} ítrum lim}; sæll es hverr manna, es gervir hann hollan sér.

Strong and bold mankind enjoys the mercy of Óláfr, keen of strength with regard to all these [instances of] honour; we [I] have made clear the fame of the king. Let the people of the land bow before {the bright limb {of the king {of the hall of the heavens}}} [(lit. ‘the bright limb of the hall-king of the heavens’) SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ) > SAINT = Óláfr]; blessed is every man who makes him friendly to himself.

Mss: Flat(2va), Bb(118va)

Readings: [3] þróttar: so Bb, þrotnar Flat;    hvass: so Bb, hárs Flat;    at: frá Flat, af Bb    [4] þreksnjǫll: so Bb, þingsnjalls Flat;    frama: so Bb, verǫld Flat;    ǫllum: so Bb, alla Flat    [5] Lúti: ‘loti’ Bb;    lands‑: land Bb    [6] sal‑: so Bb, ‘‑salmls’ Flat;    ‑konungs: konungi Flat, konunguns Bb    [7] hollan: hyllan Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 471-2, Skj BI, 444, Skald I, 218; Flat 1860-8, I, 7, Cederschiöld 1873, 10, Chase 2005, 116, 165-6.

Notes: [All]: Some emendation is necessary to make sense of this st., whichever ms. is taken as base; however, Flat’s version poses more serious problems, especially in the first helmingr, in terms of syntax, metre and sense, so Bb’s has been followed for the most part. Line 3 in the Flat version has no hending, and the epithet hárs ‘old’ (m. gen. sg.) can only qualify Óláfs (l. 1), and is not plausible in context; þrotnar ‘dwindles away’ (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic.) is similarly implausible, and has no obvious subject, verǫld alla ‘all the world’ being acc. — [6] salkonungs ‘of the hall-king’: Emendation is necessary here, as neither ms. is satisfactory.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873b. ‘Bandamanna saga’. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1873a. Geisli eða Óláfs Drápa ens Helga er Einarr orti Skúlason: efter ‘Bergsboken’ utgifven. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 10. Lund: Berling.
5. Chase, Martin, ed. 2005. Einarr Skúlason’s Geisli. A Critical Edition. Toronto Old Norse and Icelandic Studies 1. Toronto, Buffalo and London: Toronto University Press.
6. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.