Ólhv Frag 9III
Tarrin Wills (ed.) 2017, ‘Óláfr hvítaskáld Þórðarson, Fragments 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 309.
Vǫndr ‘the branch’
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vǫndr (noun m.; °vandar, dat. vendi/vǫnd; vendir, acc. vǫndu/vendi): rod, want, mast
s ‘is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
Máría ‘Mary’
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María (noun f.): Mary
mynduð ‘symbolised by’
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1. mynda (verb): shape
meins ‘evil’
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mein (noun n.; °-s; -): harm, injury
kennings
grœðari alls meins‘the healer of all evil ’
= Christ
the healer of all evil → Christ
eplit ‘apple’
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epli (noun n.; °-s; -): apple
hreina ‘pure’
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2. hreinn (adj.; °compar. hreinari/hreinni, superl. hreinastr/hreinstr): pure
endr ‘once’
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endr (adv.): formerly, once, again
notes
[3] gat endr ‘was once’: It is very difficult to make sense of the mss’ reading endr at ‘again/once at/to’ here. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 237), followed by Skj B, emends to andar, creating a kenning for ‘sin’, reading: en grœðari alls meins andar kallask eplit hreina kindar Jesse ‘and the healer of all injury of the soul [SIN > = Christ] is called the pure apple of Jesse’s kin’. The present emendation was proposed by Louis-Jensen (1981) and is more conservative than Björn’s, retaining endr and adding one letter to at. Additionally it provides an appropriate example of paradigma in the parallel of er mynduð ‘is (metaphorically) represented’ and gat kallask ‘was called’.
gat ‘was’
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2. geta (verb): to beget, give birth to, mention, speak of; to think well of, like, love
[3] gat: at A, W
notes
[3] kindar Jesse ‘of Jesse’s kin’: Cf. Rom. XV.12 erit radix Iesse ‘he will be the root of Jesse’. Jesse was the father of King David and an ancestor of Christ. — [3] gat endr ‘was once’: It is very difficult to make sense of the mss’ reading endr at ‘again/once at/to’ here. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 237), followed by Skj B, emends to andar, creating a kenning for ‘sin’, reading: en grœðari alls meins andar kallask eplit hreina kindar Jesse ‘and the healer of all injury of the soul [SIN > = Christ] is called the pure apple of Jesse’s kin’. The present emendation was proposed by Louis-Jensen (1981) and is more conservative than Björn’s, retaining endr and adding one letter to at. Additionally it provides an appropriate example of paradigma in the parallel of er mynduð ‘is (metaphorically) represented’ and gat kallask ‘was called’.
gat ‘was’
(not checked:)
2. geta (verb): to beget, give birth to, mention, speak of; to think well of, like, love
[3] gat: at A, W
notes
[3] kindar Jesse ‘of Jesse’s kin’: Cf. Rom. XV.12 erit radix Iesse ‘he will be the root of Jesse’. Jesse was the father of King David and an ancestor of Christ. — [3] gat endr ‘was once’: It is very difficult to make sense of the mss’ reading endr at ‘again/once at/to’ here. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 237), followed by Skj B, emends to andar, creating a kenning for ‘sin’, reading: en grœðari alls meins andar kallask eplit hreina kindar Jesse ‘and the healer of all injury of the soul [SIN > = Christ] is called the pure apple of Jesse’s kin’. The present emendation was proposed by Louis-Jensen (1981) and is more conservative than Björn’s, retaining endr and adding one letter to at. Additionally it provides an appropriate example of paradigma in the parallel of er mynduð ‘is (metaphorically) represented’ and gat kallask ‘was called’.
at ‘at’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
Jesse ‘Jesse’s’
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Jessi (noun m.): [Jesse]
notes
[3] kindar Jesse ‘of Jesse’s kin’: Cf. Rom. XV.12 erit radix Iesse ‘he will be the root of Jesse’. Jesse was the father of King David and an ancestor of Christ.
kindar ‘kin’
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kind (noun f.; °-ar; -r): offspring, race
alls ‘of all’
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allr (adj.): all
kennings
grœðari alls meins‘the healer of all evil ’
= Christ
the healer of all evil → Christ
grœðari ‘the healer’
(not checked:)
grœðari (noun m.): saviour, healer
kennings
grœðari alls meins‘the healer of all evil ’
= Christ
the healer of all evil → Christ
kallask ‘called’
(not checked:)
kalla (verb): call
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cited as an example of paradigma, which Óláfr explains as follows (TGT 1927, 89): Paradigma samjamnar fyrst nǫkkura hluti ok síðan greinir hon þá í líking ‘Paradigma first juxtaposes certain things and then it distinguishes them in form’.
Example of paradigma. Donatus has two types of paradigma: hortantis, exemplefied by antenor potuit mediis elapsus Achiuis Illiricos penetrare sinus; and deterrentis, with at non sic Phrygius penetrat Lacedaemona pastor | Ledaeamque Helenam Troianas vexit ad urbes. Louis-Jensen does not deal with Óláfr’s possible authorship in her article on this helmingr. — Björn Magnússon Ólsen (TGT 1884, 118-19) finds a model for this half-stanza in an example of versus dissoni ‘discordant verse’ in a C13th Latin grammatical manuscript (Thurot 1868, 456): Aaron virga, quæ tulit duram | cum flore nucem contra naturam, | est porta celi | aperta nunquam sed semper clausa. | Nostræ salutis extitit causa | virgo Maria ‘The rod of Aaron, which brings forth a hard nut with a flower, contrary to nature, is the gate of heaven, never open but always closed. The cause of our salvation was the Virgin Mary’. The Latin example appears to have also inspired Óláfr’s commentary (TGT 1927, 89): Hér er greind sú samjafnan, er áðr er upp tekin milli vandar þess, er Árón bar ok laufgaðiz með ávexti, ok Máríe drótningar, er fæddi guðs son um framm mannligt eðli ‘Here the comparison is made, which has been previously established, between the staff which Aaron carried and which grew leaves with fruit, and Mary the queen who gave birth to the son of God outside human nature’.
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