Anon (TGT) 17III/4 — vald ‘strength’
Krossfestum sé Kristi
kunnr vegr ok lof unnit
megn ok máttr sem tígnar
mest vald, þats fersk aldri.
Kunnr vegr ok lof, megn ok máttr, sem mest tígnarvald, þats aldri fersk, sé unnit krossfestum Kristi.
May famous honour and praise, power and might, as well as the greatest strength of honour that will never perish, be granted to the crucified Christ.
notes
[All]: The helmingr is strongly reminiscent of the doxology to Matt VI.13 (King James text): ‘For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever’. The doxology is not in the Vulgate, nor is it found, for example, in the text and commentary to the Pater noster in Holm perg 15 4° (HómÍsl 1993, 16r). It is, however, found in later mss of the gospel of Matthew, and there were several versions in oral tradition. A similar formula is recorded in the C2nd Didache (Lohse 2009, 89). — [3-4] sem mest tígnarvald ‘as well as the greatest strength of honour’: This interpretation is from Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884) and is adopted in Skj B. Kock (NN §2547) argues that sem is used in parallel with the two instances of ok and should not be taken with mest. He prefers W’s tígnir and reads sem tígnir, | mest vald ‘and honours, the greatest strength …’. It is rare, however, for tígn to be used in the pl., and the citations in ONP only have the pl. form from the C14th onwards. The cpd tígnarvald (and the related tígnarveldi) are uncommon in prose and poetry. Both have only two citations in ONP. Tígnarveldi occurs in Anon Líkn 24/7VII and tígnarvald is used only here in poetry.