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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Ólhv Frag 9III

Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, Fragments 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 309.

Óláfr hvítaskáld ÞórðarsonFragments
89

text and translation

Vǫndrs Máría mynduð
(meins en eplit hreina
endr gat) Jesse kindar
(alls grœðari kallask).

Máría [e]s mynduð vǫndr kindar Jesse, en {grœðari alls meins} gat endr kallask eplit hreina.
 
‘Mary is symbolised by the branch of Jesse’s kin, and the healer of all evil [= Christ] was once called the pure apple.

notes and context

Cited as an example of paradigma, which Óláfr explains as follows (TGT 1927, 89): Paradigma samjamnar fyrst nǫkkura hluti ok síðan greinir hon þá í líkingParadigma first juxtaposes certain things and then it distinguishes them in form’.

Example of paradigma. Donatus has two types of paradigma: hortantis, exemplefied by antenor potuit mediis elapsus Achiuis Illiricos penetrare sinus; and deterrentis, with at non sic Phrygius penetrat Lacedaemona pastor | Ledaeamque Helenam Troianas vexit ad urbes. Louis-Jensen does not deal with Óláfr’s possible authorship in her article on this helmingr. — Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 118-19) finds a model for this half-stanza in an example of versus dissoni ‘discordant verse’ in a C13th Latin grammatical manuscript (Thurot 1868, 456): Aaron virga, quæ tulit duram | cum flore nucem contra naturam, | est porta celi | aperta nunquam sed semper clausa. | Nostræ salutis extitit causa | virgo Maria ‘The rod of Aaron, which brings forth a hard nut with a flower, contrary to nature, is the gate of heaven, never open but always closed. The cause of our salvation was the Virgin Mary’. The Latin example appears to have also inspired Óláfr’s commentary (TGT 1927, 89): Hér er greind sú samjafnan, er áðr er upp tekin milli vandar þess, er Árón bar ok laufgaðiz með ávexti, ok Máríe drótningar, er fæddi guðs son um framm mannligt eðli ‘Here the comparison is made, which has been previously established, between the staff which Aaron carried and which grew leaves with fruit, and Mary the queen who gave birth to the son of God outside human nature’.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XII], G [5]. Andre religiøse vers og herhen hørende digtbrudstykker 4: AI, 627, BI, 635, Skald I, 308; SnE 1818, 334, SnE 1848, 200, SnE 1848-87, II, 188-9, 427, III, 153, TGT 1884, 32, 118-19, 237, TGT 1927, 89, 110.

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