Note to Anon Mv II 16^VII

[3] það er minning ‘that is a remembrance’: The syntax of ll. 3-4 is difficult. In the present edn, það er minning ‘that is a remembrance’ is taken as a separate cl., followed by another main cl. Skj B treats ll. 3-4 as one cl., which is translated as det som din nåde skænkede mit legeme som minde (?) ‘that which your mercy gave my body as a memory (?)’. The syntax of that cl. is unclear. Presumably minning ‘memory’ is taken as a dat. (though one would expect a -u ending), but it is difficult to see what type of construction that could be. Wrightson gives the translation ‘which is a remembrance your mercy gave to my flesh’. Her reading presupposes a relative cl. without rel. particle and dem. (‘a remembrance which your mercy gave to my flesh’). Because the l. starts with an unstressed syllable, Skald reverses the initial w.o. (see Introduction above), but reads minnig er þat, where the adj. minnig (f. nom. sg.) ‘of good memory’ replaces the noun minning ‘remembrance, memory’ (so also Sperber), modifying miskunn (f. nom. sg.) ‘mercy’: ‘which your mercy of good memory gave to my flesh’.

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.