Note to Anon (FoGT) 21^III

[All]: Björn Magnússon Ólsen (FoGT 1884, 271) is almost certainly correct when he argues that the grammatical and syntactical construction of ll. 1-2 imitates a Latin construction like urbem quam statuo, vestra est ‘the city which I found is yours’ (Virgil, Aeneid I, 573), adapted by medieval grammarians like Évrard of Béthune (Wrobel 1887, 5, l. 40), following Donatus, to exemplify antiptosis. The Icelandic example here places þá mjóva mey ‘that slim girl’ in the same position as Lat. urbem ‘city’ (acc.) and then in the main clause has the alternative form of the noun mey, viz. mær er þín ‘the girl is yours’ in parallel with the Lat. nom. vestra [urbs] est. Evidently neither Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) nor Kock (Skald) understood how closely the Icelandic imitates the Latin here, because both eds emended W’s ‘þá er’ in l. 1 to þá. This gives the sense in ll. 1-2: ‘I praise that slim girl for her goodwill; the girl is yours’. However, there is no way that this emended construction can exemplify a change from acc. to nom. case of the noun mey/mær.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
5. Wrobel, I., ed. 1887. Eberhardi Bethuniensis Graecismus. Corpus grammaticorum medii aeui I. Bratislava: G. Koebner.