Gamlkan Has 1VII/6 — gný ‘of the din’
Hár stillir, lúk heilli
hreggtjalda, mér, aldar,
upp, þús allar skaptir,
óðborgar hlið góðu,
mjúk svát mættik auka
môl gnýlundum stála
miska bót af mætu
mín fulltingi þínu.
Hár stillir hreggtjalda, þús skaptir allar aldar, lúk mér upp hlið óðborgar góðu heilli, svát mættik auka mjúk môl mín, bót miska, stála gnýlundum af mætu fulltingi þínu.
High ruler of the storm-tents [SKY/HEAVEN > = God], you who created all humans, open up for me the gate of the fortress of poetry [BREAST > MOUTH] with good grace, so that I might augment my soft words, the remedy for misdeeds, for trees of the din of swords [(lit. ‘din-trees of swords’) BATTLE > WARRIORS] with your excellent help.
readings
[6] gnýlundum: ‘gný[...]unndum’ B, ‘gnýunndum’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘gnýiunndum’ BRydberg, BFJ
notes
[6] gnýlundum (dat. pl.): Lit. ‘din-trees’. B is badly worn at this point, and one cannot be certain of the fourth letter. Finnur Jónsson and Rydberg read ‘gnýiunndum’ with confidence, while the 399a-bˣ copyist is certain of ‘gnýunndum’. There have been several attempts to make sense of this reading. Neither Sveinbjörn Egilsson nor Kempff saw any need to emend, both taking gnýundum stála to be a man-kenning, Sveinbjörn (1860, 257a) relating gnýundum to gnúa ‘to rub’ and Kempff (1867, 22) assuming it to derive from gnýja ‘to sound’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) emends to gnýviðum (dat. pl.) ‘din-trees’. Jón Helgason (1935-6, 252) rejects the interpretations of both Sveinbjörn and Kempff, and notes that, since the hole in B is over what previous eds read as an ‘i’, ‘there is nothing against our assuming that this letter was an “l”, the upper part of which is now missing’. Jón’s reconstruction, which is adopted here, is therefore in accord with the spirit of Finnur’s emendation but, as he says, ‘is closer to what survives than gnýviðum’. Although the cpd gnýlundum ‘din-trees’ is not otherwise attested, gnýlundum stála would be partially paralleled by the warrior-kenning lundr stála ‘tree of spears’, which occurs in a poorly-preserved lv. attributed to Bjhít Lv 15/6V (ÍF 3, 155).
kennings
- stála gný — of the din of swords [BATTLE]
- stála gnýlundum — trees of the din of swords [WARRIORS]