Anon Lil 11VII/4 — reitum ‘the paths’
Breytti guð og brá til hætti
blóð og hold af vatni og moldu,
liettan blástr af lofti næsta,
lífs heitleika af sólar reitum,
önd og þar til síðan sendi;
sú er skiljandi drottins vilja;
leið kunnandi um líkams æðar,
líf skínanda af helgum anda.
Guð breytti og brá hætti til, blóð og hold af vatni og moldu, liettan blástr af lofti næsta, heitleika lífs af reitum sólar, og sendi síðan þar til önd; sú er skiljandi vilja drottins, kunnandi leið um æðar líkams, skínanda líf af helgum anda.
God transformed and changed his behaviour, blood and flesh from water and soil, the light breath from the nearest air, the warmth [lit. warmths] of life from the paths of the sun [SKY/HEAVEN], and then he sent a soul there; it is discerning the Lord’s will, knowing the path through the body’s blood vessels, the shining life from the Holy Spirit.
readings
[4] reitum: ‘rettum’ 720a VIII, ‘reiki’ Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892
notes
[4] reitum sólar ‘from the paths of the sun [SKY/HEAVEN]’: The basic meaning of reitr is a furrow dividing two fields. By analogy it can also denote a garden bed, a path, a path on a game board, an area, space, region (cf. stjörnu reitar ‘star’s path’ 26/2 and dags reitar ‘day’s path’ Anon Líkn 32/6). This kenning suggests the boundary between the second heaven, associated with the sun and the stars and the warmth of life, and the lowest heaven (lopti næsta), associated with wind and breath. The image of a dividing furrow also resonates with the theme of Gen. I, where God’s work of creation consists of separation and division (light from darkness, dry land from sea etc.), and where the purpose of the ‘lights made in the firmament of heaven’ is to delineate day and night, seasons, days, and years. Konráð Gíslason (1877, 21) suggests that the pl. form reitum is used here in reference to the places in the sky where the sun appears at various times.
kennings
- reitum sólar, — the paths of the sun, [SKY/HEAVEN]
grammar
case: dat.
number: pl.