Gamlkan Has 60VII/8 — glyggs ‘of the wind’
Vættik oss með ótta,
alskírt himins birti
hǫfuðmusteri ins hæsta
hildings, af þér mildi,
hauðrs, þvít hugga fríðir
hug minn siðir þínir,
grams kastali inn glæsti
glyggs, en várt líf hryggvir.
Vættik oss með ótta mildi af þér, alskírt hǫfuðmusteri ins hæsta hildings himins birti, þvít þínir fríðir siðir hugga hug minn, en líf várt hryggvir, inn glæsti kastali grams hauðrs glyggs.
I hope for us [for myself] with fear for mercy from you, altogether brilliant chief temple of the highest prince of heaven’s brightness [SUN > = God (= Christ)], because your fine virtues comfort my mind, but our [my] way of life distresses [it], splendid fortress of the prince of the land of the wind [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)].
readings
[8] glyggs: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...]yggs’ B
notes
[5-8] kastali grams hauðrs glyggs ‘fortress of the prince of the land of the wind’: Cf. Mdr 1/7, where Mary is praised as God’s hæstr hǫfuðkastali ‘highest chief fortress’. It is possible that the Mdr poet consciously imitated the two appellations for Mary used in this st. Gamli’s use of kenning-types that compare the Virgin Mary to a building, especially a sacred or royal one, the receptacle for Christ’s incarnation, is among the earliest in skaldic verse and is based on Old Testament typology (templum Domini ‘the temple of the Lord’, solium Salomonis ‘the throne of Solomon’), whereby Solomon’s temple is a type or allegorical figure of the Virgin and she in turn is a type of the Church (Schottmann 1973, 47-51, 76).
kennings
- hauðrs glyggs. — of the land of the wind. [SKY/HEAVEN]
- grams hauðrs glyggs. — of the prince of the land of the wind. [= God (Christ)]