Cite as: David McDougall (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Pétrsdrápa 42’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 833-4.

Fótr hnögg föðurins sæta; fagnaðr jókz af magni oss, þvíað vára* vissi valdr breyskleika aldar.

Neitar nafn fyr ótta nauðigur sitt dauðans; orð guðs — ambátt spurði — angrs varð framm að ganga.

Fótr föðurins sæta hnögg; fagnaðr jókz oss af magni, þvíað {valdr aldar} vissi vára* breyskleika. Nauðigur neitar sitt nafn fyr ótta dauðans; ambátt spurði; orð guðs angrs varð að ganga framm.

The foot of the beloved father stumbled; joy was increased mightily for us, because {the ruler of mankind} [= God (= Christ)] knew our frailties. Reluctant, he denies his name out of fear of death; the maidservant asked; the word of God’s sorrow [i.e. Christ’s sad prediction] had to be fulfilled.

Mss: 621(59r-v)

Readings: [3] vára*: ‘varrar’ 621

Editions: Skj: [Anonyme digte og vers XIV], [B. 7]. En drape om apostlen Peder 42: AII, 506, BII, 555, Skald II, 304, NN §1744; Kahle 1898, 87.

Notes: [3] vára* ‘our’: Ms. ‘varrar’, agreeing with aldar ‘of mankind’ (l. 4). — [5-6] neitar sitt nafn ‘he denies his name’: Cf. Matt. XXVI.69-74; Mark XIV.66-71; Luke XXII.55-60; John XVIII.17-18, 25-7; Pétr 14, esp. 14/19-22: Eptir orðum Augustini neitar eigi sa einn guði, er eigi kallaz kristinn, helldr ok hinn er eigi kallaz lærisveinn, þviat fyrrmeirr hetu þvi nafni allir rettruadir menn, aðr en hitt nafn kom upp i Antiochia ‘According to the words of Augustine, not only he who is not called Christian, but also the one who is not called disciple denies God, because formerly all men of orthodox faith were called by that name, before the other name originated in Antioch’; cf. Augustine, In Iohannis evangelium tractatus (in Willems 1954, 637/20-34). — [6] nauðigur ‘reluctant’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) prints nauðigr and introduces er between sitt and dauðans to gain an extra syllable in the l. He reads er ambátt spurði ‘when the maidservant asked (him)’. Kock (NN §1744) inserts þá instead in the same place (which he takes with the first cl.: þá neitar hann). Emendation is unnecessary if one assumes trisyllabic nauðigur. Cf. Note to st. 4/2. — [7-8] orð guðs angrs ‘the word of God’s sorrow’: = God’s sorrowful word (NN §1744). On this type of construction, see NN §1007B. — [7] ambátt spurði ‘the maidservant asked’: Cf. Pétr 14/2: ambatt, su er dura geymdi ‘the maidservant who kept the door’ (= John XVIII.17 ancilla ostiaria ‘the maidservant who was portress’). — [8] varð að ganga framm ‘had to be fulfilled’: Cf. Matt. XXVI.34, 75; Mark XIV.30, 72; Luke XXII.34, 61.