Anon Brúðv 32VII
Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Brúðkaupsvísur 32’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 552.
Guðs æsti menn mest
móður, að hun dugi þjóð,
(fyrir ljóða líkn kær)
liðs (hjálpar mier), við.
Jésús veitir ágætr
alt giengi því ávalt;
heilög er snót sæl
sú; það er vís raun.
Menn æsti {guðs móður} mest liðs, að hun dugi þjóð við; kær hjálpar mier fyrir líkn ljóða. Ágætr Jésús veitir því ávalt alt giengi; það er vís raun; sú sæl snót er heilög.
Men should ask {God’s mother} [= Mary] most for aid, that she will lend support to people; the beloved one helps me because of the comfort of poems. Magnificent Jesus therefore always grants all success; that is a certain fact; that blessed lady is holy.
Mss: 721(15r), 1032ˣ(111v-112v), 399a-bˣ(13), 2166ˣ(13)
Readings: [1] Guðs: Guð 721 [3] fyrir: ‘[...]’ 721; líkn: verka 1032ˣ, 399a‑bˣ, 2166ˣ; kær: ‘ko[...]’ 1032ˣ, ‘k[...]’ 399a‑bˣ, 2166ˣ [6] giengi: so 2166ˣ, giengr 721, 1032ˣ, 399a‑bˣ [7] sæl: so 2166ˣ, ‘sæ[...]’ 721, ‘sæı’ 1032ˣ, ‘sæ’ 399a‑bˣ [8] sú: so 1032ˣ, 399a‑bˣ, 2166ˣ, ‘[...]’ 721
Editions: ÍM II, 135.
Notes: [All]: The point of this st. is that Mary acts as an intercessor with Christ for sinful humankind. For that reason (því, l. 6) he always grants people success. — [1] guðs ‘God’s’: Guð is the determinant of the kenning guðs móður ‘god’s mother’ [ = Mary] and therefore has to be in the gen. case. The emendation was suggested by the scribe in the margin of 2166ˣ and later Jón Helgason adopted it in his edn. — [3] fyrir ‘because of’: The first word in l. 3 is completely illegible in 721 and had already become so when the scribe of 1032ˣ copied the poem. All the paper mss put dots to indicate that something is missing. As Jón Helgason pointed out, there is only space for one letter (and abbreviation sign) and the rhyme demands a vowel + <r>. Based on this, he concluded that fyrir was the only possible word. — [4] liðs ‘help’: This is very unclear in 721. — [4] mier ‘me’: As Jón Helgason pointed out, the abbreviation sign above ‘mi-’ is faint and hard to read in 721. It is slightly clearer in a black and white photograph of the page and there the abbreviation sign seems to be –er. Therefore the reading mier has been adopted here, as the other mss also support it, rather than Jón’s suggested mjök.
References
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.