Anon Líkn 10VII/3 — skírs ‘of bright’
Því ber ek angr, at engu
árs launa ek sárar
skírs, sem skyldugt væri,
skilfingi píningar.
Þó gleðr enn sem aðra
oss, sú er hlauz af krossi
lýð ok lofðungs dauða,
líkn dýr, himinríkis.
Því ber ek angr, at ek launa engu, sem væri skyldugt, skilfingi skírs árs sárar píningar. Þó gleðr enn oss sem aðra dýr líkn, sú er hlauz lýð af krossi ok dauða lofðungs himinríkis.
On this account I bear sorrow, that I requite not at all, as would be due, the king of bright abundance [= God (= Christ)] for his sore torments. Yet there still gladdens us [me] as [well as] others precious grace, which was allotted to people from the Cross and from the death of the king of heaven’s kingdom [= God (= Christ)].
notes
[3, 2, 4] skilfingi skírs árs (dat.) ‘king of bright abundance [= God (= Christ)]’: This is the poem’s first of several uses of ár in a kenning for God or Christ; cf. 17/1 árstillir ‘instituter of abundance’, 20/5 árveitir ‘abundance giver’, 46/2-3 árs öðlingr ‘prince of year’s abundance’, 47/3 árs eflir ‘strengthener of year’s abundance’. In each of these, either the temporal sense ‘year’ or the beneficent concept of ‘(year’s) abundance’ (cf. Lat. annona) accords with the divine referent, as creator of time or as giver of bounty and good fortune. Such kennings only occur in Líkn, and the concentration of them, together with other instances of the word (see Notes to 5/5 and possibly 2/5), may support de Vries’s speculation (1964-7, II, 76) that the overall number of sts is symbolic of the fifty-two weeks of the year. Snorri Sturluson (SnE 1931, 184; SnE 1998, I, 103) defines skilfingr ‘king, prince’ (l. 4) as a descendent of the legendary warrior king Skelfir; cf. OE scylfingas. Used of Christ or God only here, the heiti also occurs in Geisl 13/3 of S. Óláfr.
kennings
- skilfingi skírs árs — the king of bright abundance [= God (Christ)]