Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 26’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 312-13.
Reiðiverk, þau er þú unnit hefr,
bæt þú eigi illu yfir;
grættan gæla skaltu með góðum hlutum;
þat kveða sálu sama.
Reiðiverk, þau er þú hefr unnit, bæt þú eigi illu yfir; skaltu gæla grættan með góðum hlutum; þat kveða sama sálu.
The angry deeds that you have committed, do not compensate for them with wickedness; you must comfort the weeping one with good things; they say that befits the soul.
Mss: 166bˣ(46v), papp15ˣ(3r-v), 738ˣ(81r), 167b 6ˣ(2v) (l. 1), 214ˣ(150r), 1441ˣ(583), 10575ˣ(4v), 2797ˣ(233)
Readings: [2-6] om. 167b 6ˣ [2] þú: er 1441ˣ [3] þú: om. 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ [4] gæla: gala 166bˣ, 738ˣ, 214ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ, hala papp15ˣ [5] skaltu: skalt 10575ˣ [6] þat kveða sálu sama: á vinna aptr 1441ˣ; kveða: so 2797ˣ, om. 166bˣ, papp15ˣ, 214ˣ, 10575ˣ, er 738ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 632, Skj BI, 639, Skald I, 311, NN §2147C; Bugge 1867, 361, Falk 1914, 13, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 11, Fidjestøl 1979, 63, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 62, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 32, 109.
Notes: [1-2]: Most eds, following Bugge, regularise ll. 1-2 by adding ‘er’ to l. 2, and combining it with þau (l. 1) in order to regularise the syntax. However, ll. 1-2 lack alliteration. — [2-6]: These ll. are omitted in 167b 6ˣ, as are all succeeding sts up to and including 55. — [3] bæt þú eigi illu yfir ‘do not compensate for them with wickedness’: Cf. Hsv 87. — [4] gæla ‘to comfort, soothe’: Bugge’s emendation. Gala ‘to chant’ is preferred by most of the main mss to papp15ˣ’s hala, possibly related to halda ‘to hold, maintain’. Neither of these variants makes sense in context. — [6] kveða ‘they [people] say’: The reading (or possibly the emendation) of 2797ˣ, adopted by 4 related later mss (1692ˣ, 2298ˣ, IBR36ˣ and 1458ˣ). It is likely that the majority of mss have omitted a verb here. This reading has been adopted by all subsequent eds.
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