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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (FoGT) 34^III

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 Lausavísur Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise

Beraz ‘himself to be born’

(not checked:)
3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry

liet ‘allowed’

(not checked:)
láta (verb): let, have sth done

frá ‘from’

(not checked:)
frá (prep.): from

mey ‘maiden’

(not checked:)
mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden

mætri ‘an excellent’

(not checked:)
mætr (adj.; °compar. -ri/-ari, superl. -astr): honoured, respected

mætr ‘The excellent’

(not checked:)
mætr (adj.; °compar. -ri/-ari, superl. -astr): honoured, respected

kennings

Mætr gætir foldsala
‘The excellent keeper of the earth-halls ’
= God
the earth-halls → SKY/HEAVEN
The excellent keeper of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

fold ‘of the earth’

(not checked:)
fold (noun f.): land < foldsalr (noun m.): [earth-halls]

kennings

Mætr gætir foldsala
‘The excellent keeper of the earth-halls ’
= God
the earth-halls → SKY/HEAVEN
The excellent keeper of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[2] foldsala ‘of the earth-halls [SKY/HEAVEN]’: Some eds (Skj B; Skald) emend to foldsalar (gen. sg.) and this is admittedly a commoner type of heaven-kenning. However, as the pl. form makes sense, it has been retained here.

fold ‘of the earth’

(not checked:)
fold (noun f.): land < foldsalr (noun m.): [earth-halls]

kennings

Mætr gætir foldsala
‘The excellent keeper of the earth-halls ’
= God
the earth-halls → SKY/HEAVEN
The excellent keeper of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[2] foldsala ‘of the earth-halls [SKY/HEAVEN]’: Some eds (Skj B; Skald) emend to foldsalar (gen. sg.) and this is admittedly a commoner type of heaven-kenning. However, as the pl. form makes sense, it has been retained here.

sala ‘halls’

(not checked:)
1. salr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; dat. sǫlum): hall < foldsalr (noun m.): [earth-halls]

kennings

Mætr gætir foldsala
‘The excellent keeper of the earth-halls ’
= God
the earth-halls → SKY/HEAVEN
The excellent keeper of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[2] foldsala ‘of the earth-halls [SKY/HEAVEN]’: Some eds (Skj B; Skald) emend to foldsalar (gen. sg.) and this is admittedly a commoner type of heaven-kenning. However, as the pl. form makes sense, it has been retained here.

sala ‘halls’

(not checked:)
1. salr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; dat. sǫlum): hall < foldsalr (noun m.): [earth-halls]

kennings

Mætr gætir foldsala
‘The excellent keeper of the earth-halls ’
= God
the earth-halls → SKY/HEAVEN
The excellent keeper of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[2] foldsala ‘of the earth-halls [SKY/HEAVEN]’: Some eds (Skj B; Skald) emend to foldsalar (gen. sg.) and this is admittedly a commoner type of heaven-kenning. However, as the pl. form makes sense, it has been retained here.

gætir ‘keeper’

(not checked:)
gætir (noun m.): guardian

kennings

Mætr gætir foldsala
‘The excellent keeper of the earth-halls ’
= God
the earth-halls → SKY/HEAVEN
The excellent keeper of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

umsniðning ‘circumcision’

(not checked:)
umsniðning (noun f.): [circumcision]

[3] umsniðning: ‘vmsniðn[…]g’ W

notes

[3] umsniðning ‘circumcision’: The <in> abbreviation between the second <n> and final <g> has been torn away in W, but the emendation is unproblematical. The only other instance of this noun in poetry is Anon Lil 35/5^VII.

tók ‘underwent’

(not checked:)
2. taka (verb): take

auðnu ‘destiny’

(not checked:)
1. auðna (noun f.; °-u; -ur): [destiny, fortune]

kennings

einn veitandi hreinnar auðnu
‘the one granter of pure destiny ’
= God
the one granter of pure destiny → God

einn ‘the one’

(not checked:)
2. einn (pron.; °decl. cf. einn num.): one, alone

kennings

einn veitandi hreinnar auðnu
‘the one granter of pure destiny ’
= God
the one granter of pure destiny → God

veitandi ‘granter’

(not checked:)
veitandi (noun m.; °-a; veitendr): granter

kennings

einn veitandi hreinnar auðnu
‘the one granter of pure destiny ’
= God
the one granter of pure destiny → God

hreinnar ‘of pure’

(not checked:)
2. hreinn (adj.; °compar. hreinari/hreinni, superl. hreinastr/hreinstr): pure

kennings

einn veitandi hreinnar auðnu
‘the one granter of pure destiny ’
= God
the one granter of pure destiny → God

áðr ‘before’

(not checked:)
áðr (adv.; °//): before

skatna ‘of men’

(not checked:)
skati (noun m.; °-a; -nar): chieftan, prince

kennings

jöfurs skatna
‘of the prince of men ’
= God
the prince of men → God

vann ‘’

(not checked:)
2. vinna (verb): perform, work

[5] vann: vanr W

notes

[5, 6] vann batnað ‘improved’: Lit. ‘gained improvement for’. Ms. W has vanr, an adj. meaning either ‘accustomed’ or ‘lacking’, neither of which makes grammatical sense in this context.

vatni ‘the water’

(not checked:)
vatn (noun n.; °-s; -*): water, lake

vatnskírn ‘the baptism’

(not checked:)
vatnskírn (noun f.): [baptism]

jöfurs ‘of the prince’

(not checked:)
jǫfurr (noun m.): ruler, prince

kennings

jöfurs skatna
‘of the prince of men ’
= God
the prince of men → God

batnað ‘improved’

(not checked:)
batna (verb; °-að-): improve

notes

[5, 6] vann batnað ‘improved’: Lit. ‘gained improvement for’. Ms. W has vanr, an adj. meaning either ‘accustomed’ or ‘lacking’, neither of which makes grammatical sense in this context.

fastandi ‘fasting’

(not checked:)
3. fasta (verb): fast

bar ‘bore’

(not checked:)
3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry

freistni ‘temptation’

(not checked:)
freistni (noun f.): trial, temptation

friðar ‘of peace’

(not checked:)
friðr (noun m.): peace

kennings

kiennari friðar
‘the teacher of peace ’
= God
the teacher of peace → God

kiennari ‘the teacher’

(not checked:)
kennari (noun m.; °-a; -ar): [teacher]

kennings

kiennari friðar
‘the teacher of peace ’
= God
the teacher of peace → God

þrenna ‘a threefold’

(not checked:)
þrennr (adj.): three(fold)

Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

verse
prose

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 orðum ‘Onopomenon 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 35/5^VII and Notes), the third his baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist (cf. Anon Lil 37^VII), 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 45^VII). Each couplet contains a kenning for God as Christ.

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