Gripla - 20.12.2014, Síða 195

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translation of these three texts. electronic versions of these and other texts
of the hymn, marked up using tEI-conformant XML, are available online
on the summer school’s website, www.arnamagnaean.org.
Margrét Eggertsdóttir
trans. Matthew J. Driscoll
1. Introduction
the year 2014 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of Iceland’s
most eminent poets, Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674). His birthday has
been celebrated in Iceland in various ways throughout the year. With this
article, we would like to contribute to these celebrations and thus end this
festive year by discussing a Christmas hymn attributed to Hallgrímur en-
titled Hljómi raustin barna best. this hymn is an Icelandic translation of the
Latin hymn Personent Hodie, to which Hallgrímur added thirteen original
verses. In 1773, almost 100 years after the poet’s death, a compilation of
his hymns and poems entitled Andlegir sálmar og kvæði was published. this
was also the very first time that the Icelandic hymn Hljómi raustin barna
best appeared in print.
this article is the result of the work done as part of the Personent Hodie
Text Edition project outlined in the preface. First, the article sketches the
origin for the Icelandic hymn Hljómi raustin barna best, which lies in the
Latin Christmas hymn Personent Hodie. We examine the textual tradition
of this Latin hymn and its Icelandic parallels, and evaluate its translation
into Icelandic. Second, we take a closer look at the content of the Icelandic
hymn Hljómi raustin barna best, which survives in a shorter and longer
version, and we discuss the theological views it expresses. next, we turn
to the 27 Icelandic witnesses of this hymn, their transmission and their
relationship to each other. By examining the manuscripts’ date and place
of origin, scribe(s), and provenance, the hymn’s varying verse number and
order, and its variant readings, some clear patterns emerge that allow us to
divide the manuscripts into groups. Additionally, we focus on the material
dimension of the hymn’s transmission, such as rubrics, page design and
the content of the entire manuscript, and ask whether these can provide
us with additional information on the relationship between the various
An ICELAnDIC CHrIStMAS HYMn