Gamlkan Has 9^VII

Gerðak opt í orðum,
eljunsterkr, sem verkum,
hreggs bjartloga, ok hyggju,
hróts, í gǫgn þér, dróttinn.
Þræll hefr þinn í allan
þann, lífgjafi manna,
ófs grǫndugrar andar
ástsnauðr hratat dauða.

Gerðak opt í gǫgn þér í orðum, sem verkum ok hyggju, {eljunsterkr dróttinn {bjartloga {hróts hreggs}}}. {Lífgjafi manna}, ástsnauðr þræll þinn hefr hratat í allan þann dauða ófs grǫndugrar andar.

I often acted against you in words, as in deeds and thought, {energy-strong lord {of the bright flame {of the roof of the storm}}} [SKY/HEAVEN > SUN > = God]; {lifegiver of men} [= God], your love-bereft servant has stumbled into the total death of an excessively sinful soul.

Mss: B(12v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [4] þér: ‘[...]’ B, þ(ér)(?) 399a‑bˣ    [6] lífgjafi: lífgjafa B    [7] ófs: oss B    [8] ástsnauðr: ‘asts[...]udr’ B, ‘astsnạudr’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘ast s[...](a)udr’(?) BRydberg, ‘ast s(n)audr’ BFJ;    dauða: ‘da[...]’ B, ‘dau(da)’(?) 399a‑bˣ, ‘da(uda)’ BRydberg, ‘da(u)da’ BFJ

Editions: Skj AI, 563, Skj BI, 550-1, Skald I, 267; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 16, Kempff 1867, 3, Rydberg 1907, 22, Black 1971, 160, Attwood 1996a, 224.

Notes: [1-4] gerðak opt í gǫgn þér í orðum, sem verkum ok hyggju ‘I often acted against you in words, as in deeds and thought’: Confession of sins in thought, word and deed is an article of the Confiteor: Confiteor Deo omnipotenti … quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opera, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa ‘I confess to almighty God … that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault’ (Lefebure 1924, 7). Gamli’s re-ordering of the articles of confession, which is required by the alliterative demands of his st., informs the subject-matter of the three following sts: in st. 10, he confesses to swearing oaths, a sin ‘in word’, st. 11 concerns his sins ‘in deed’, and st. 12 his sinful thoughts, which rendered him technically unfit to take part in the Eucharist. — [5] þræll þinn ‘your servant’: The figure of the Christian as God’s servant or slave has its origin in Rom. VI.22 nunc vero liberati a peccato servi autem facti Deo habetis fructum vestrum in sanctificationem finem vero vitam aeternam ‘but now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting’. It occurs several times in ON-Icel. Christian poetry. By far the most famous use is in the so-called ‘death-song’ of Kolbeinn Tumason (d. 1208), the first st. of which ends with the couplet ek em þrællinn þinn, | þú’st dróttinn minn ‘I am your servant, you are my master’ (Kolb Lv 8/7-8^IV). In Geisl 61/8, S. Óláfr is referred to as goðs þræll ‘God’s servant’, while men are called þrælar konungs fróns ‘servants of the king of the land’ in Líkn 33/1-2. Gamli repeats this concept in 10/3 and 58/8. — [6] lífgjafi ‘lifegiver’: It has not been possible to make sense of B’s reading lífgjafa. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (note in 444ˣ transcript and 1844 edn) suggested emendation to lífgjafi, nom., which has been adopted by all subsequent eds. — [7] ófs ‘excessively’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (note in 444ˣ transcript and 1844 edn) suggested emendation to ófs, adverbial gen., which has been adopted by all subsequent eds. — [8]: B is very badly worn, and the 399a-bˣ transcriber was unable to make complete sense of either the first or last word. That his reconstruction is correct is confirmed by the auð-aðalhending, of which sufficient traces remain.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
4. Black, Elizabeth L. 1971. ‘Harmsól: an edition’. B. Litt. thesis. University of Oxford.
5. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
7. Lefebure, Dom Gaspar. 1924. Daily Missal with Vespers for Sundays and Feasts. London: Caldwell.
8. 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.
9. Internal references
10. Guðrún Nordal 2017, ‘(Biography of) Kolbeinn Tumason’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 270.
11. George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 33’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 264-6.
12. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 61’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 57.
13. Not published: do not cite (Kolb Lv 8^IV)