Note to Ólhv Frag 9III
[All]: 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’.
References
- Bibliography
- TGT 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.
- TGT 1927 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1927b. Óláfr Þórðarson: Málhljóða- og málskrúðsrit. Grammatisk-retorisk afhandling. Det kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 13, 2. Copenhagen: Høst.
- Thurot, Charles, ed. 1868. Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque impériale et autres bibliothèques. Vol. 22, Part 2. Paris: Impremerie impériale.