Ǫld hefr opt inn mildi
unnar bliks frá miklum
— Krists mærik lim — leysta
litrauðs konungr nauðum.
Greitt má gumnum létta
guðs ríðari stríðum;
rǫskr þiggr allt, sem œskir,
Óláfr af gram sólar.
Konungr inn mildi litrauðs bliks unnar hefr opt leysta ǫld frá miklum nauðum; mærik lim Krists. Guðs ríðari má greitt létta stríðum gumnum; rǫskr Óláfr þiggr allt, sem œskir, af gram sólar.
The king, generous with the red-coloured light of the wave [GOLD], has often rescued men from great need; I praise the limb of Christ [SAINT = Óláfr]. God’s knight [SAINT = Óláfr] can easily alleviate afflictions for men; brave Óláfr gets all he desires from the king of the sun [= God].
[1, 2, 4] konungr inn mildi litrauðs bliks unnar ‘the king, generous with the red-coloured light of the wave [GOLD]’: The kenning may be understood on several levels. It clearly refers to Óláfr, but the light imagery also recalls Christ, ‘the king of the sun’, whose radiance is associated with the saint. The ‘king’ in this multivalent metaphor can be the mortal Óláfr, generous with gold; the heavenly Óláfr, generous with miracles; or Christ, generous with the grace of his saints. Cederschiöld proposed emending Bb’s ‘aunnar’ (l. 2) to unnar, and this has been followed by all eds.
Pronouns and determiners: Definite article
The definite article is normally suffixed to nouns, except in some cases where it is used with an adjective. If the noun form ends in a vowel, the 'i' in the article is dropped. If the noun form ends in 'um', the 'm' and 'i' are both dropped. E.g. hesta (acc. pl.) > hestana (acc. pl. definite); hestum (dat. pl.) > hestunum (dat. pl. definite)
masc. | fem. | neut. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
sing. | N A G D | inn inn ins inum | in ina innar inni | it it ins inu |
pl. | N A G D | inir ina inna inum | inar inar inna inum | in in inna inum |