Anon Brúðv 28^VII

Oftar vil eg yðarn kraft
inna — það er vili minn —
— vita skulu víf kát —
víða í bragsmíð,
ef landa (líf) stund
ljós veitir gramr oss
máttugr (eða málsgnótt
mín tjár sonar þín).

Eg vil inna oftar yðarn kraft víða í bragsmíð — það er vili minn; kát víf skulu vita —, ef {máttugr gramr landa} veitir oss stund, eða ljós málsgnótt mín tjár líf sonar þín.

I want to tell more often of your power, far and wide, in a work of poetry — that is my will; cheerful women shall know —, if {the mighty king of lands} [= God] grants us [me] time, or my clear eloquence relates the life of your son.

Mss: 721(15r), 1032ˣ(109v-110v), 399a-bˣ(11-12), 2166ˣ(11-12)

Readings: [3] kát: so 399a‑bˣ, 2166ˣ, ‘[...]’ 721, ‘k..’ 1032ˣ    [6] ljós: ljóss 399a‑bˣ, 2166ˣ    [7] ‑gnótt: so 399a‑bˣ, 2166ˣ, ‘nógt’ 721, om. 1032ˣ    [8] tjár: ‘tiꜳr’ 721, ‘t[...]ar’ 1032ˣ, ‘l[...]ar’ 399a‑bˣ, 2166ˣ

Editions: ÍM II, 134.

Notes: [3] kát víf skulu vita ‘cheerful women shall know’: The cl. here is construed as an intercalary. The verb skulu (3rd pers. pl.) is abbreviated in 721 and 1032ˣ as ‘sk̄u’ which could be expanded as skaltu (2nd pers. sg.). Both readings make sense, but if the abbreviation is expanded as skaltu, it is necessary to follow Jón Helgason’s emendation þat for kát; þat skaltu vita, víf ‘you shall know that, woman’. Kát ‘cheerful’ can either be f. sg. or n. pl. The latter can stand with víf (n. pl.) ‘cheerful women’. The poet seems to be addressing a group of women, probably his intended audience. Given the poem’s subject matter, it is possible that these women were religious. — [6, 7] ljós málsgnótt ‘clear eloquence’: There is a rather awkward w.o. required for this collocation. 399a-bˣ and 2166ˣ read ljóss ‘clear, radiant’ (m. nom. sg.), which could qualify gramr ‘king’ (l. 6). — [7] málsgnótt ‘eloquence’: Jón Helgason chose the reading mals nogt in his edn. — [8]: The first two words of this l. are almost illegible. Jón Helgason suggested that the original reading of the final couplet might have been ... eða máls gnótt | minni týr sonr þinn (ÍM II, 134), which would give the sense of ll. 5-8 as: ef máttugr gramr landa veitir oss líf, stund, minni eða málsgnótt, ljós-Týr, sonr þinn ‘if the mighty king of lands grants us life, time, memory or eloquence, light-Týr, your son’. — [8] mín ‘my’: The first letter is smudged and almost illegible in 721, but all the other mss read mín and the word obviously starts with an <m> because of the alliteration. The last two letters, ‘ín’, are clear and easy to read. — [8] tjár (3rd pers. pres., inf. tjá) ‘relates’: This word is seriously damaged in 721, and the other mss offer no good reading either. Jón Helgason reads ‘tair’ but the letter before <r> does not seem to be <i>, but <a>. There seems to be a letter straight after <t>, most likely <i>. The word then reads ‘tiar’ or even ‘tiꜳr’. The best reading is therefore tjár ‘relates’, which makes good sense in this context. — [8] þín ‘your’: According to Björn K. Þórólfsson (1925, 44), undeclined poss. pronouns in a shortened form can be found, mainly in poetry from C14th, usually after the nouns to which they refer. Þín could be an example of this phenomenon; the usual form would be þíns (gen.).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Björn K. Þórólfsson. 1925. Um íslenskar orðmyndir á 14. og 15. öld og breytingar þeirra úr fornmálinu. Reykjavík: Fjelagsprentsmiðjan. Rpt. 1987. Rit um íslenska málfræði 2. Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.
3. ÍM = Jón Helgason, ed. 1936-8. Íslenzk miðaldarkvæði: Islandske digte fra senmiddelalderen. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.