Anon Lil 27VII/3 — geisli ‘ray’
Leið sigrandi páfugls prýði
pentað innan firmamentum
Gabriél sem geisli sólar
gleðiligur í loft in neðri.
Sendiboði kom sjaufalds anda
— svá er greinanda — að húsi einu;
sannr meydómrinn sat þar inni
sjálft hreinlífið gimsteinn vífa.
Gabriél, sigrandi páfugls prýði, leið sem gleðiligur geisli sólar innan pentað firmamentum í in neðri loft. Sendiboði sjaufalds anda kom að einu húsi; þar inni sat sannr meydómrinn, hreinlífið sjálft, gimsteinn vífa; svá er greinanda.
Gabriel, excelling the peacock’s beauty, moved like a joyful ray of the sun through the ornamented firmament into the lower air. The messenger of the sevenfold Spirit [ANGEL = Gabriel] came to a house; therein sat the true maidenhood, purity itself, the jewel of women; so it is to be told.
readings
[3] geisli: geislin 705ˣ
notes
[3] geisli sólar ‘ray of the sun’: Cf. kennings for Christ geisli sólar miskunnar ‘beam of the sun of mercy’ (Geisl 1/6) and geisla guðs hallar ‘ray of God’s hall’ (Geisl 7/1-2). Here the poet may likewise wish to suggest that the angel is an extension of God. The image anticipates st. 33, where the geisli symbolises the Divinity shining through Mary’s humanity at the birth of Jesus. Cf. the kenning-like periphrasis for Mary, geisli lofta ‘light-beam of the heavens’, in 89/3.