Gamlkan Has 63VII/1 — Ér ‘you’
Ér látið þau, ýta,
atferðar lok verða,
miskunnandi, minnar,
margríkr, at þér líki,
svát frá yðr í ítru
— oss kjósum þat — ljósi,
veglyndr veðra grundar
valdr, skiljumk ek aldri.
Margríkr miskunnandi ýta, ér látið þau lok atferðar minnar verða, at líki þér, svát ek skiljumk aldri frá yðr í ítru ljósi, veglyndr valdr grundar veðra; kjósum oss þat.
Very powerful pardoner of men [= Christ], you allow the endings of my life’s course to turn out in such a way that it pleases you, so that I will never be parted from you in glorious light, honour-minded ruler of the plain of the winds [SKY/HEAVEN > = God]; we [I] choose that for ourselves [myself].
notes
[1] ér ‘you’: An accent is written over the r. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844), who is followed by Kempff, follows the 399a-bˣ copyist in interpreting the accent as the common nasal abbreviation, producing ‘Ern’. Rydberg concurs, though he notes (1907, 31 n. 10) that Ér in Líkn 44/1 (fol 12r, l. 24) is remarkably similar to the form here. There is no doubt that Ér is the correct reading in that case. Sveinbjörn takes ern to be the nom. sg. of ern adj. ‘vigorous’, qualifying the God-kenning miskunnandi ýta in apposition with margríkr. He construes Ern miskunnandi ýta margríkr, látið þau lok verða atferðar minnar... ‘Vigorous, very powerful pardoner of men [= God (= Christ)]], you allow the endings of my life’s course to turn out...’. This edn follows Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), Black (1971, 296) and Kock (Skald) in reading Ér, the archaic form of the honorific pl. pron. (see ANG §§464, Anm. 5 and 465, Anm. 5), construed with the adjacent látið ‘you allow’ (l. 1).