Anon Pét 43VII/4 — gleði ‘of joy’
Sárfeinginn hug særir
sótt hjarðreka dróttins;
*eldi í gegn fyr gildan
gleði tárkveiktan steðja.
Ástkennis fyr innan
angr hjartrót*um stangaz,
meistara síns að misti
mætr kinnroða gætir.
Sótt særir sárfeinginn hug hjarðreka dróttins; *eldi í gegn fyr gildan steðja gleði tárkveiktan. Angr stangaz hjartrót*um ástkennis fyr innan, að mætr gætir kinnroða misti síns meistara.
Anguish afflicts the pain-stricken heart of the shepherd of the Lord [APOSTLE]; it has kindled through and through for the excellent [man] his anvil of joy [which has been] moved to tears [HEART]. Grief pierces the heart-roots of the teacher of love [APOSTLE] inwardly, because the worthy possessor of shame [HOLY MAN] has lost his master.
notes
[4] steðja gleði tárkveiktan ‘anvil of joy, moved to tears’: Both Kahle (1898, 87, 111) and Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) read gleðitár ‘tears of joy’ as a cpd (cf. LP), but then have difficulty dealing with the words which follow. Finnur substitutes an ellipsis for kveiktan and reads glædestårer for den store ... ambolt ‘tears of joy for the great [=gildan (3)] anvil’, adding her er teksten forvansket ‘here the text is corrupt’. Kahle keeps kveiktan but admits, understandably, that he does not understand the phrase ‘the kindled anvil’. Kock (NN §1745E) is able to make sense of the passage as it stands by assuming a kenning gleði steði ‘anvil of joy, heart’, with which he compares both Egill’s hyggju staðr ‘the place of thought [MIND]’ (Egill St 2/4V) and heart-kennings of the type hugsteinn ‘thought-stone’, geðsteinn ‘mind-stone’ (cf. Meissner, 138; on stone anvils see, e.g. Eg 2003, ch. 30; Þór Magnússon 1971, 268-9). One is tempted to compare the collocation of heart, stone, and anvil at Job XLI.15 cor eius indurabitur quasi lapis et stringetur quasi malleatoris incus (Douay-Rheims: ‘His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith’s anvil’), though it is impossible to prove any direct connection with this passage. With tárkveiktan ‘moved to tears’, cf. Matt. XXVI.75; Mark XIV.72; Luke XXII.62. Cf. Notes to sts 44/2-3, 45/3 below.
kennings
- steðja gleði tárkveiktan. — anvil of joy [which has been] moved to tears. [HEART]