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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Lil 98VII/2 — selja ‘put’

Sá, er óðinn skal vandan velja,
velr svá mörg í kvæði að selja
hulin fornyrðin; trautt má telja;
tel eg þenna svá skilning dvelja.
Vel því að hier má skýr orð skilja,
skili þjóðir minn ljósan vilja;
tal óbreytiligt veitt að vilja;
vil eg, að kvæðið heiti Lilja.

Sá, er skal velja vandan óðinn, velr að selja í kvæði svá mörg hulin fornyrðin; trautt má telja; tel eg, þenna dvelja skilning svá. Því að hier má vel skilja skýr orð, skili þjóðir ljósan vilja minn, óbreytiligt tal veitt að vilja; eg vil, að kvæðið heiti Lilja.

He who must execute the elaborate poem chooses to put into the verse so many obscure archaisms one can hardly count them; I say that he thus impedes understanding. Because one here can understand clear words well, let people understand my transparent intent, this ordinary speech given freely; I desire that the poem be called ‘Lilja’.

readings

[2] selja: so 713, telja 99a, skorða 622, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892, felja 705ˣ

notes

[2] selja ‘put into, insert’: All the eds of Lil except Eiríkur Magnússon (1870, 98) have chosen 713’s reading, selja ‘sell, give’. Selja maintains the end rhyme of the st., but the resulting sense is awkward. LP notes that it is necessary here to understand the meaning ‘to insert’, a meaning otherwise unattested. Bb’s fela ‘to hide, conceal, bury’ makes better sense but is unmetrical, as the final foot must consist of a long + short syllable. The variant telja ‘to count, number, tell’ preserves the rhyme and makes more sense that selja, but the repetition of the word in l. 3 makes it an unlikely option. The end rhymes anticipate the revelation of the poem’s title in the last l. of the st.

grammar

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