Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Vitnisvísur af Máríu 22’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 754-5.
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1. verða (verb): become, be
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af (prep.): from
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2. vitni (noun n.; °-s; -): witness < vitnisburðr (noun m.)
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burðr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -/-i; -ir): birth < vitnisburðr (noun m.)
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virkr (adj.): considerate
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lýðr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir): one of the people
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í (prep.): in, into
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kirkja (noun f.): church
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til (prep.): to
[3] til mestrar mektar ‘the mightiest worship [lit. splendour]’: In the present edn this phrase is construed with the verb bjóða ‘offer’ (l. 4) (bjóða e-m til e-s ‘offer somebody something’; see LP: bjóða 2). Wrightson translates the sentence as ‘fired up to the utmost of their power to worship the mother of God’. However, bjóða (l. 4) cannot mean ‘worship’. Sperber takes bjóða til e-s in the meaning ‘turn to’ (see Fritzner: bjóða til 1) and translates sich an die Macht der Mutter Gottes wenden ‘turn to power of the mother of God’.
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meiri (adj. comp.; °meiran; superl. mestr): more, most
[3] til mestrar mektar ‘the mightiest worship [lit. splendour]’: In the present edn this phrase is construed with the verb bjóða ‘offer’ (l. 4) (bjóða e-m til e-s ‘offer somebody something’; see LP: bjóða 2). Wrightson translates the sentence as ‘fired up to the utmost of their power to worship the mother of God’. However, bjóða (l. 4) cannot mean ‘worship’. Sperber takes bjóða til e-s in the meaning ‘turn to’ (see Fritzner: bjóða til 1) and translates sich an die Macht der Mutter Gottes wenden ‘turn to power of the mother of God’.
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mekt (noun f.; °-ar): might, power
[3] til mestrar mektar ‘the mightiest worship [lit. splendour]’: In the present edn this phrase is construed with the verb bjóða ‘offer’ (l. 4) (bjóða e-m til e-s ‘offer somebody something’; see LP: bjóða 2). Wrightson translates the sentence as ‘fired up to the utmost of their power to worship the mother of God’. However, bjóða (l. 4) cannot mean ‘worship’. Sperber takes bjóða til e-s in the meaning ‘turn to’ (see Fritzner: bjóða til 1) and translates sich an die Macht der Mutter Gottes wenden ‘turn to power of the mother of God’.
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móðir (noun f.): mother
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1. guð (noun m.; °***guðrs, guðis, gus): (Christian) God
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5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
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bjóða (verb; °býðr; bauð, buðu; boðinn (buð- Thom¹ 5²n.)): offer, order, invite
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flokkr (noun m.): group, flock
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1. gera (verb): do, make
[5] þá ‘then’: The adv. is necessary to restore alliteration and the correct number of syllables.
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þǫkk (noun f.; °þakkar; þakkar/þakkir): thanks
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þannig (adv.): thus, there, that way
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allr (adj.): all
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með (prep.): with
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svanni (noun m.): lady, woman
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lof (noun n.; °-s; -): praise, leave, permission < lofsǫngr (noun m.)
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sǫngr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -vi/-; -var): song < lofsǫngr (noun m.)
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1. unna (verb): love
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
[7] þau ‘they’: The pron. is extrametrical and has been omitted by most earlier eds.
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ljúfr (adj.): beloved
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list (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): skill, art, virtue
[8] list ‘artfully [lit. with skill]’: The noun is taken here as a dat. instr. (so also Skj B). Skald treats it as an acc., as a parallel object to lofsaung ‘song of praise’ (‘they made a song of praise, an art-performance’; see NN §1674). However, list ‘skill, cleverness, art’ is not attested in that meaning (see Fritzner: list), and therefore the two nouns are not in apposition.
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María (noun f.): Mary
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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Kristr (noun m.; °-s/-, dat. -i; -ar): Christ
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