Anon Lil 12^VII

Svá er líðandi maðr af móður-
moldu — þó er með skæru holdi —
Ádám nefndur, er alls í heimi
átti ráð með frelsi og náðum.
Höfginn rann svá hægr á þenna
heims stýranda; fekk hann skýra
andagift, og síðan sýndi,
svá vorðinna spádómsorða.

Svá er maðr líðandi af móður-moldu, nefndur Ádám — þó er með skæru holdi —, er átti ráð alls í heimi með frelsi og náðum. Svá rann höfginn hægr á {þenna stýranda heims}; fekk hann skýra andagift, og sýndi síðan, spádómsorða svá vorðinna.

Thus a man proceeds from mother-earth, named Adam, though he is with unsullied flesh, who had power over everything in the world, with freedom and peace. Then a light slumber came upon {that ruler of the world} [= Adam]: he received a clear spiritual gift — and later demonstrated [it] — of prophetic words which came to fulfilment.

Mss: Bb(113vb), 720a VIII(2r), 99a(3r), 622(25), 713(6), Vb(247), 41 8°ˣ(107-108), 705ˣ(4v), 4892(26r-v)

Readings: [1] Svá: so 4892, ‘Sea’ Bb, ‘svo’ 720a VIII, 622, ‘Sa’ 99a, 705ˣ, ‘So’ 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ    [2] moldu: moldu og 99a, 622, 713, 705ˣ;    er: om. 720a VIII, 622, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892;    holdi: holdu 720a VIII    [3] er: so 99a, 705ˣ, eð Bb, om. 720a VIII, 622, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892    [4] átti: hann átti 720a VIII, átti hann Vb, 41 8°ˣ, átti at 4892    [5] hægr: hygr 720a VIII, hægri 622, höggvin 4892;    þenna: þennan 720a VIII, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892    [6] heims: heim 622, Vb;    stýranda: stýranda og 622, stýrandans Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892;    hann: so 720a VIII, 622, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892, om. Bb, hinn 99a;    skýra: skýrar Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892    [7] andagift: andagiptir Vb, 41 8°ˣ;    og: þá 720a VIII, 713, 4892, þá er 99a, 705ˣ, om. Vb;    sýndi: sendi 720a VIII, 713, 4892, sendar Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892    [8] svá: ‘a suo’ 720a VIII;    vorðinna: vorðinna á 720a VIII, orðinna 622

Editions: Skj AII, 367, Skj BII, 393, Skald II, 214, NN §1518.

Notes: [1-2] móður-moldu ‘mother-earth’: The separation of the two elements of a cpd over two subsequent ll., in natural order without tmesis, is unusual. — [2-3] þó er með skæru holdi Ádám nefndur: Cf. Gen. II.7: formavit igitur Dominus Deus hominem de limo terrae ‘the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth’. In the reading of Bb, adopted here, the skald sees a paradox in the creation of an unsullied being from mud. He may have known that the Hebrew text of Gen. plays on the words אָדָם (’adam) ‘human being’ and אֲדָמָה (’adamah) ‘clay, soil’. In the ON Eluc the disciple asks, Hui scapaþe Goþ mann ór sua herue-lego efne ‘Why did God create man out of such wretched material?’ (Eluc 1992, 16-17). Other mss, followed by Skj B and Skald, read l. 2 as ok þó með skæru holdi ‘and yet with unsullied flesh’. — [6] stýranda heims ‘ruler of the world [= Adam]’: The kenning is analogous to kennings for God (stýrandi lífs ‘ruler of life’ Arngr Gd 1/2^IV; stýrandi hallar heims ‘ruler of the hall of the world’ Anon Leið 21/3-4; stýrandi himna ‘ruler of the heavens’ Arngr Gd 59/8^IV; stýrandi alls ‘ruler of all’ Mark Eirdr 31/2^II; Anon Leið 41/7). It alludes to Gen. I.26 (... praesit piscibus maris et volatilibus caeli et bestiis universaeque terrae ... ‘... let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth ...’) and in a more general sense is a reminder of Adam’s exalted state before the Fall. Cf. the ON Eluc: Iþui hafþe hann ok gliking Goðs at hann skylde sua styra ollo aiorþo sem Goþ ręþr ollo ahimne ‘For that reason he took on the shape of God, so that he could rule everything on earth as God rules over everything in heaven’ (Eluc 1992, 16-17). — [7] og sýndi síðan ‘and later demonstrated [it]’: The reading of Bb. Skj B and Skald prefer the reading of 99a and 705ˣ, [andagift] þá er síðan sýndi ‘[spiritual gift] which he later demonstrated’. — [8] svá vorðinna ‘(prophetic words) which came to fulfilment’: JH comments that the expression svá vorðinn is well known from Norw. so-voren (Aasen 1873: so-voren) and Faroese sovorin in the sense ‘such’ (cf. Fritzner: vorðinn), but here the sense seems to be ‘such (prophetic words) as later came to fulfilment’ or ‘such (prophetic words) which came into being from Adam’s clear spiritual gift’. — [8] spádómsorða ‘words of prophecy’: According to tradition, while Adam was asleep during the creation of Eve, he had a dream vision showing him the glory of his descendants. Cf. the ON Eluc: Discipulus: Hui licr vas suefn sia. Magister: Goþs ande nam hann up í himnesca paradisum. oc sa hann þa þat at christus oc sancta cristne mønde berasc ór hans cyne. þvi spaþe hann of þau þegar es han vagnaþe ‘Disciple: How was Adam’s sleep? Master: The spirit of God took man into heavenly paradise and man realized then that Christ and holy Christianity would be born out of his kin. Therefore man foretold this when he woke up’ (Eluc 1992, 18-19). Stjórn also tells the story (Unger 1862, 33): Þaa let gud þilikt sem suefn ok enn Helldr nockurs konar umegin falla aa Adam. ok i þessu sama umegni truiz. at hann hafi andliga leiddr uerit ok uppnuminn til himinrikiss hirðar. þiat siðan er hann uaknaði. uar hann fullkominn ok sua framr spaamaðr. at hann spaadi fyrir samband Jesu Kristi ok heilagrar kirkiu. ok þat hit mikla floð er uarð aa do᷎gum Noe. ok þar meðr eigi sidr hinn efzta dom. er fyrir elldinn skal uerða. ok sagði alla þessa luti sinum sunum ‘Then God caused something like sleep and a kind of powerlessness to come upon Adam, and in this powerlessness he thought that he had been led in spirit and taken up to the hosts of the kingdom of heaven, so that when he awoke, he was so perfect and proficient a prophet that he prophesied about the union of Jesus Christ and the holy church, and that great flood which would come in the days of Noah and likewise even the Last Judgement, which will precede the fire. And he told all these things to his sons’. Some mss of the Lat. Eluc add: D. Qualis erat ille somnus? M. Extasis. Spiritus namque in caelestem paradisum eum rapuit, ubi Christum et Ecclesiam de se nascituros vidit; unde evigilans mox de illis prophetavit ‘Disciple. What was that sleep like? Master. Ecstasy. For the Spirit took him up into the heavenly paradise, where he saw that Christ and the Church would be born from him; and he prophesied about these things as soon as he awoke’ (LeFꜵvre 1954, 374). The source of this motif is probably Tertullian’s De anima: Si enim Adam de Christo figuram dabat, somnus Adae mors erat Christi dormituri in mortem, ut de inuria perinde lateris eius uera mater uiuentium figuraretur ecclesia ‘For if Adam is a type of Christ, the sleep of Adam is the death of Christ, who would sleep in death, so that the wound in his side could prefigure the mother of the living: the Church’ (Waszink 1954, 847 [43.62]). The Canticum Ade pro se et generacione sva in the Meditaciones Vite Christi of Iohannis de Caulibus (Stallings-Taney 1997, 316-7; Taney et al. 2000, 297) and the Icel. Adams óður (Guðbrandur Þorláksson 1612, 193-6), which purport to be Adam’s joyous response to the Harrowing of Hell, look back to this prophecy.

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. Unger, C. R., ed. 1862. Stjorn. Gammelnorsk bibelhistorie fra verdens skabelse til det babyloniske fangenskab. Christiania (Oslo): Feilberg og Landmarks forlag.
6. Eluc 1992 = Firchow, Evelyn S., ed. and trans. 1992. The Old Norse Elucidarius: Original Text and English Translation. Medieval Texts and Translations: Studies in German Literature, Linguistics and Culture. Columbia, SC.: Camden House.
7. Taney, Francis X. et al., trans. 2000. [John of Caulibus] Meditations on the Life of Christ. Asheville, NC: Pegasus.
8. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
9. Guðbrandur Þorláksson, ed. 1612. Ein ny wiisna bok med mörgum andlegum viisum og kuædum, Psalmum, lof sønguum og rijmum, teknum wr Heilagre Ritningu. Hólar.
10. Eluc = Elucidarius.
11. Internal references
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 21’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 159-60.
13. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 41’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 175.
14. Not published: do not cite (Arngr Gd 1^IV)
15. Not published: do not cite (Arngr Gd 59^IV)
16. Jayne Carroll (ed.) 2009, ‘Markús Skeggjason, Eiríksdrápa 31’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 459-60.
17. Not published: do not cite ()