Anon Vitn 3^VII

Rieð í ríki góðu
— ritning berr svá vitni —
kóngr, sá átti unga,
óttlauss, framadóttur.
Fæðiz upp með Fríði
falds á bernskualdri
svinnr í sögðu ríki
sveinn af kynslóð hreinni.

Óttlauss kóngr, sá átti unga framadóttur, rieð í góðu ríki; ritning berr svá vitni. Svinnr sveinn af hreinni kynslóð fæðiz upp á bernskualdri með {Fríði falds} í sögðu ríki.

A fearless king who had a young, outstanding daughter, ruled in a good realm; writing bears witness to that. A clever boy of pure lineage grows up in childhood with {the Fríðr <goddess> of the head-dress} [WOMAN] in the said realm.

Mss: 713(83), 721(10v)

Readings: [3] kóngr: ‘k̄gur’ 713, 721    [5] Fæðiz: fæddisk 713, 721;    Fríði: so 721, fríðri 713    [8] af: om. 721

Editions: Skj AII, 483, Skj BII, 520, Skald II, 285; Kahle 1898, 50, Sperber 1911, 23, 70, Wrightson 2001, 28.

Notes: [2] ritning ‘writing’: The poet’s source was likely a written text about Mary’s miracles (see Introduction above). — [3] kóngr ‘king’: This noun is abbreviated ‘k̄gur’ in both mss. Skj A, Sperber and Wrightson resolve it as kóngr ‘king’ (Skald has konungr). Kóngr seems warranted because of the internal rhyme (-óng- : -ung-; but see st. 4/4 below). For the contracted form, see ANG §125.4. — [5] fæðiz ‘grows [up]’: Both mss read fæddiz (3rd pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘grew up’, but the pres. tense of the verb (fæðiz) is required by the internal rhyme (-æð- : -íð-). — [7]: The l. lacks internal rhyme. Wrightson tentatively reads ríki ‘realm’ in 721 as ranni ‘house’ (so also Sperber, but, although it is smudged, the abbreviation stands for <ik> (and 713 has ríki without abbreviation). Furthermore, there is no mention of a house in the preceding text.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
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.