HSt Rst 33^I

Þengill þróttarstrǫngum
þeim bauð Kristr af heimi
byrtjalds (beztu heilli)
bragningi (goð fagni).
Ygglaust alla þiggi
eljunfimr á himnum
Óláfr œzta sælu
ítrbóls með gram sólar.

Kristr, {þengill {byrtjalds}}, bauð þróttarstrǫngum bragningi af þeim heimi; goð fagni beztu heilli. Eljunfimr Óláfr þiggi ygglaust alla œzta sælu á himnum með {gram {ítrbóls sólar}}.

Christ, {the prince {of the wind-tent}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)], invited the ruler strong in valour out of the world; may God receive [him] with the highest grace. May the vigorous Óláfr receive without fear all the highest bliss in the heavens with {the lord {of the splendid abode of the sun}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God].

Mss: Bb(112va)

Readings: [7] Óláfr: Óláfi Bb

Editions: Skj AI, 551-2, Skj BI, 533-4, Skald I, 259, NN §§1187, 2113; SHI 3, 266-7, CPB II, 300, Wisén 1886-9, I, 50, Finnur Jónsson 1893b, 164, Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, I, 283-5.

Notes: [1-4]: The general sense of the helmingr is clearly that Óláfr was summoned by God from this world into heaven; but there are alternative analyses of the kenning elements, and alternative solutions to the fact that there is only one dat. noun, bragningi ‘prince’, but two finite verbs, bauð ‘invited’ and fagni ‘receive, welcome’, requiring a dat. object. (a) In the text above, nom. sg. þengill forms a natural kenning for God with byrtjalds ‘wind-tent [SKY/HEAVEN]’, which is set in apposition to the nom. sg. Kristr ‘Christ’ (so also Skj B). Þróttarstrǫngum ‘strong in valour’ is taken as an attributive adj. with bragningi ‘prince’, and þeim is taken with heimi, hence ‘the world’. Fagni lacks an explicit object, but this is easily understood to be the same bragningi ‘prince’ as in the first clause. (b) In Skj B (following Konráð Gíslason 1895-7) strǫngum ‘strong’ is taken as substantival, hence þeim þróttar strǫngum ‘the one strong in valour/power’. This has the advantage of leaving bragningi available as the explicit object of fagni. (c) Kock (NN §1187) objects to the positioning of Kristr relative to the kenning. He emends þengill to dat. sg. þengil, object of bauð ‘invited’, and takes þeim as a pron. ‘him’ in apposition to it. He takes together af heimi byrtjalds ‘from the world of the wind-tent [HEAVEN]’, qualifying bauð, so that God calls to Óláfr out of heaven. However, the addition of heimi ‘world’ to the heaven-kenning makes it overloaded, and it is more natural to understand af heimi as referring to Óláfr leaving the earth. — [1] þróttarstrǫngum ‘strong in valour’: (a) The two elements are treated here as a cpd. This seems likely in light of other compounds in which a reference to warlike deeds in the gen. qualifies strangr: Sigv Berv 13/2^II heiptarstrangr ‘vengeful’ and Sturl Hryn 7/4^II sóknarstrangr ‘war-fierce’; there are also several further compounds in -strangr (LP: strangr). (b) The two elements could alternatively be regarded as a phrase with the adj. strangr governing the gen. (cf. NS §§136-8, though the examples do not include strangr). — [3] -tjalds : heilli: On this rhyme, see Note to st. 32/3. — [3] beztu heilli ‘with the highest grace’: Lit. ‘with the best grace or fortune’: A specifically Christian sense ‘grace’ is appropriate here as, e.g., in Gamlkan Has 1/1^VII. — [4] fagni ‘may … receive’: There are also connotations of welcoming, cf. Skj B’s gud måtte glæde kongen ‘may God cheer the king’. — [7] Óláfr: The minor emendation of ms. Óláfi is necessary both in order to provide a nom. sg. subject for þiggi ‘receive’ and because Óláfi is hypermetrical. The emendation is adopted in previous eds.

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. 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.
6. CPB = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and F. York Powell, eds. 1883. Corpus poeticum boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1965, New York: Russell & Russell.
7. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
8. Finnur Jónsson. 1893b. Carmina Norrœna: Rettet Tekst. Copenhagen: Nielsen & Lydiche.
9. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
10. Konráð Gíslason. 1895-7. Efterladte skrifter. 2 vols. I: Forelæsninger over oldnordiske skjaldekvad. II: Forelæsninger og videnskablige afhandlinger. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SHI = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1828-46. Scripta historica islandorum de rebus gestis veterum borealium, latine reddita et apparatu critico instructa, curante Societate regia antiquariorum septentrionalium. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp etc. and London: John & Arthur Arch.
12. Internal references
13. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 73-4.
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Bersǫglisvísur 13’ 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. 24-5.
15. Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hrynhenda 7’ 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, p. 684.