Anon Vitn 11VII
Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Vitnisvísur af Máríu 11’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 747-8.
Vitjar ‘visits’
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vitja (verb): visit
veglig ‘The magnificent’
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vegligr (adj.): magnificent
sæta ‘woman’
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1. sæta (noun f.; °-u; -ur): woman, lady
notes
[1] sæta ‘woman’: See Note to 6/2 above. Kahle (1898, 102) suggests that the word could have been used here in its original meaning ‘grass-widow’, but that is unlikely in view of the high frequency with which this term occurs in this poem and elsewhere.
virkta ‘very’
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virkð (noun f.; °; -ir): [affectionate, very] < virkðafríðr (adj.)
fríð ‘beautiful’
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fríðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): beautiful, fair < virkðafríðr (adj.)
um ‘’
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1. um (prep.): about, around
síðir ‘finally’
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1. síð (noun f.; °; -ir): um síðir: in the end
sinn ‘her’
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3. sinn (pron.; °f. sín, n. sitt): (refl. poss. pron.)
elskuga ‘lover’
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elskhugi (noun m.; °-a; dat. -um): love
sannan ‘true’
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2. sannr (adj.; °-an; compar. -ari, superl. -astr): true
svá ‘thus’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
spyrr ‘she asks’
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spyrja (verb; spurði): ask; hear, find out
er ‘the one who’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
var ‘was’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
fyrri ‘before’
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1. fyrri (adj. comp.; °superl. fyrstr): first
Hví ‘why’
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hví (adv.): why
vartu ‘were you ’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
svá ‘so’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
hirtir ‘Chastiser’
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hirtir (noun m.): chastiser
kennings
‘Hirtir manna,‘‘Chastiser of men, ’
= RULER
‘Chastiser of men, → RULER
notes
[5, 7] hirtir manna ‘chastiser of men [RULER]’: The kenning may have been used here to denote the man’s high rank in society. Skald emends to hirtir meina, translated as beivrare av odåd ‘inciter of misdeeds’ (see NN §2858). Schottmann (1973, 128) suggests hirðir menja ‘keeper of necklaces [GENEROUS MAN]’, which forces the emendation of vartu ‘were you’ to varðu ‘did you become’. The kenning clearly refers to the man, and Finnur Jónsson takes it as such in Skj B (mænds styrer ‘ruler of men’), although in LP: hirtir he construes it as a kenning for God.
hverflyndr ‘fickle’
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hverflyndr (adj.): [fickle]
að ‘concerning the fact that’
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4. at (conj.): that
við ‘we two’
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vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
fyndumz ‘should meet’
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2. finna (verb): find, meet
mjög ‘very much’
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mjǫk (adv.): very, much
reynir ‘test’
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reyna (verb): test, try, experience
þú ‘You’
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þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
manna ‘of men’
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maðr (noun m.): man, person
kennings
‘Hirtir manna,‘‘Chastiser of men, ’
= RULER
‘Chastiser of men, → RULER
notes
[5, 7] hirtir manna ‘chastiser of men [RULER]’: The kenning may have been used here to denote the man’s high rank in society. Skald emends to hirtir meina, translated as beivrare av odåd ‘inciter of misdeeds’ (see NN §2858). Schottmann (1973, 128) suggests hirðir menja ‘keeper of necklaces [GENEROUS MAN]’, which forces the emendation of vartu ‘were you’ to varðu ‘did you become’. The kenning clearly refers to the man, and Finnur Jónsson takes it as such in Skj B (mænds styrer ‘ruler of men’), although in LP: hirtir he construes it as a kenning for God.
mín ‘to me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
unnustu ‘beloved’
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unnusta (noun f.): [beloved]
þína ‘your’
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þinn (pron.; °f. þín, n. þitt): your
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
[5-8]: The syntax of the second helmingr is difficult. In the present edn, mín (gen. sg.) ‘to me’ (lit. ‘of me’) (l. 8) is construed with the adj. hverflyndr ‘fickle’ (l. 6) (see NN §2858; Wrightson 2001). The cl. að við fyndumz ‘concerning the fact that we two should meet’ (l. 6) is taken as an að-cl. governed by the adj. hverflyndr ‘fickle’ (see NS §252a). Skj B emends to at ei fyndir ‘that (you) did not seek out’ and construes þína unnustu ‘your beloved’ (l. 8) as an object of fyndir ‘seek out’ (l. 6) and mín (gen. sg.) (l. 8) as the obj. of reynir ‘test’ (l. 7). The latter is ungrammatical, because reyna ‘test’ takes the acc. (see NN §2858). Skald emends að við fyndumz ‘concerning the fact that we two should meet’ to at vætr fyndumz ‘that we did not meet’.
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