Anon Vitn 20^VII

Tók Máría mjúkust
mæla vörrum sælum
orð, svá að allir heyrðu
áhlýðandi lýðir:
‘Riett hermir þú hattar
hvert orð, vita skorða;
ósannindum undan
jungkærinn vill færaz.’

Mjúkust Máría tók mæla orð sælum vörrum, svá að allir áhlýðandi lýðir heyrðu: ‘Þú hermir hvert orð riett, {skorða {vita hattar}}; jungkærinn vill færaz undan ósannindum.’

Gentlest Mary began to speak words with blessed lips, so that all listening people heard: ‘You repeat each word correctly, {prop {of the beacon of the hat}} [GOLD > WOMAN]; the young man wants to escape by means of untruths.’

Mss: 713(85), 721(12r)

Readings: [4] áhlýðandi: áhlýðanda 721

Editions: Skj AII, 486, Skj BII, 524, Skald II, 287; Kahle 1898, 54, 103, Sperber 1911, 27-8, 72, Wrightson 2001, 36.

Notes: [5-6] skorða vita hattar ‘prop of the beacon of the hat [GOLD > WOMAN]’: So Sperber and Wrightson. A comparable kenning is unattested. Skj B and Skald emend hattar to handar ‘of the hand’ which is construed as a determinant in a woman-kenning: skorða vita handar ‘the prop of the beacon of the hand [GOLD > WOMAN]’. However, handar ‘of the hand’ leaves the l. without an internal rhyme. Sperber (1911, 72) suggests that vita hattar ‘beacon of the hat’ refers to golden adornment on a hat. Skorða ‘prop’ was a wooden post used to support beached ships. Mar (1871, 302) reads as follows: Þat er minn vitnisbvrðr at þv segir satt hvert orð af þessv efni ‘It is my testimony, that you tell the complete truth [lit. every word true] concerning this matter’. — [8] jungkærinn ‘the young man’: This is a loanword from MLG junkher ‘young man, novice’ (see AEW: jungherra). The poet uses the Norw. form jungkæri rather than the Icel. jungkeri to preserve the metre (a long second syllable).

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.
4. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
5. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
6. Wrightson, Kellinde, ed. 2001. Fourteenth-Century Icelandic Verse on the Virgin Mary: Drápa af Maríugrát, Vitnisvísur af Maríu, Maríuvísur I-III. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 14. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.