Gamlkan Has 26VII/6 — … ‘a …’
Hverr myndi svá hendir
harðgeðr loga fjarðar,
éla ranns (ef ynni)
ítr … (þér) rítar,
at, þreknenninn, þinni
…, sættandi, mætti
ógrátandi, ýta,
ormlands hjá kvǫl standa?
Ítr … rítar ranns éla, hverr hendir loga fjarðar myndi svá harðgeðr, ef ynni þér, at … ormlands mætti standa ógrátandi hjá þinni kvǫl, þreknenninn sættandi ýta?
Glorious … of the shield of the house of storms [SKY/HEAVEN > SUN > = God (= Christ)], which distributor of the fire of the fjord [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] could [be] so hard-minded, if he loved you, that [he], a … of the snake-land [GOLD > MAN] might stand unweeping by your Passion, powerful reconciler of men [= God (= Christ)]?
readings
notes
[6] …: Once again, B is badly worn and no one has been able to discern any trace of the missing letters. The alliterative scheme requires a word with initial <þ>, which must serve as the base-word of a man-kenning with the determinant ormlands (‘of the land of the snake [GOLD]’). Man-kennings of this type elsewhere in the poem and generally suggest that a noun meaning ‘destroyer’ or ‘distributer’, a god-name or a tree-name would be appropriate choices. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844, 21 n. 35), followed by Kempff, suggests reconstruction to Þrór, an Óðinn-heiti. Skj B suggests reconstruction to þollr ‘tree’, which has been adopted by all subsequent eds.
kennings
- … ormlands — a … of the snake-land [MAN]