Gamlkan Has 24VII/4 — ríkis ‘of the kingdom’
Hlaut af yðr sem aðrir
auðbrjótr meginskjóta,
láðs, þeirs lǫstum eyða,
líkn, skepjandi ríkis.
Sókndeili* hézt sælu,
sannvíss, paradísar,
— gæf reyndusk þau þjófi
þín heit — friðar veitir.
Auðbrjótr hlaut meginskjóta líkn af yðr, skepjandi ríkis láðs, sem aðrir, þeirs eyða lǫstum. Sannvíss veitir friðar hézt sókndeili* sælu paradísar; þau heit þín reyndusk þjófi gæf.
The destroyer of riches [GENEROUS MAN] received very swift mercy from you, creator of the kingdom of the land [EARTH > = God (= Christ)], like those others who leave off sins. Truly certain giver of peace [= God (= Christ)] you promised the battle-dealer [WARRIOR] the bliss of Paradise; those promises of yours proved beneficial to the thief.
readings
[4] ríkis: ríki B
notes
[4] ríkis ‘of the kingdom’: In his prose arrangement in 444ˣ Sveinbjörn Egilsson retains B’s reading, ríki, which he takes to be the weak m. nom. sg. form of ríkr ‘powerful’, qualifying skepjandi. Kempff (1867, 37) also adopts this interpretation. There is no other example of the weak form of the adj. in such a vocative expression elsewhere in Has. In MIcel., too, the strong form is invariably used, as, for example, in such expressions as almáttigur guð ‘Almighty God’ or guð minn góður ‘my good God’. This edn therefore follows Finnur Jónsson in taking the ms.’s ‘ríki’ to represent ríki n. ‘kingdom, empire’ and emends to ríkis, governed by skepjandi (l. 4). Although there is not an exact parallel to the resultant earth-kenning láðs ríki (LP: ríki), a similar concept is found in common expressions like himinríki ‘kingdom of heaven’ and in the God-kenning konungr fróns ‘king of earth’ in Líkn 33/1-2, and there is no difficulty in characterising God as the creator (skepjandi) of either heaven or earth.
kennings
- ríkis láðs, — of the kingdom of the land, [EARTH]
- skepjandi ríkis láðs, — creator of the kingdom of the land, [= God (Christ)]
grammar
case: gen.