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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (FoGT) 34III

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 34’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 611.

Anonymous LausavísurStanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise
333435

text and translation

Beraz liet frá mey mætri
mætr foldsala gætir;
umsniðning tók auðnu
einn veitandi hreinnar,
áðr skatna vann vatni
vatnskírn jöfurs batnað;
fastandi bar freistni
friðar kiennari þrenna.

{Mætr gætir {foldsala}} liet beraz frá mætri mey; {einn veitandi hreinnar auðnu} tók umsniðning, áðr vatnskírn {jöfurs skatna} vann batnað vatni; {kiennari friðar} bar fastandi þrenna freistni.
 
‘The excellent keeper of the earth-halls [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)] allowed himself to be born from an excellent maiden; the one granter of pure destiny [= God (= Christ)] underwent circumcision, before the baptism of the prince of men [= God (= Christ)] improved the water; the teacher of peace [= God (= Christ)] fasting bore a threefold temptation.

notes and context

This and the following stanza, which form a pair, are quoted to illustrate the figure called onopomenon in FoGT (oliopomenon in the Doctrinale, Reichling 1893, 177, l. 2623), and it is there defined, following the Doctrinale, thus: Onopomenon seger ęðr h(e)fer storar sǫgvr með fám orðumOnopomenon tells or has great stories in few words’.

This dróttkvætt stanza uses four couplets (fjórðungalok; for the term, see Introduction to sts 18-20) to illustrate four significant events in the earthly life of Christ, all of which had profound significance for humans, according to Christian theology. The first is his birth from the Virgin Mary, the second his circumcision (cf. Luke II.21), which was held to prefigure his crucifixion (see Anon Lil 35/5VII and Notes), the third his baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist (cf. Anon Lil 37VII), which foreshadowed the rite of baptism for humans, and the fourth his threefold temptation (cf. Matt. IV.1-11; Luke IV.1-13) by Satan in the wilderness, which presaged the devil’s temptation of mankind (cf. Anon Lil 45VII). Each couplet contains a kenning for God as Christ.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], [C]. D. Religiøse og moraliserende vers af den 4. grammatiske afhandling 10: AII, 165, BII, 182, Skald II, 95, NN §1845; SnE 1848-87, II, 232-5, III, 161, FoGT 1884, 143-4, 286, FoGT 2004, 51, 75, 145-7, FoGT 2014, 36-7, 125-6.

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