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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon (FoGT) 12III

Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 12’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 585.

Anonymous LausavísurStanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise
111213

Vatn ‘water’

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

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kalla ‘I call’

(not checked:)
kalla (verb): call

notes

[1] kalla mig ‘I call myself’: So translated here in view of the sense of the prose commentary, even though one would expect köllumz for ‘I call myself’. Two other interpretations of l. 1 are also possible, ‘they call me water’ and ‘call me water’; cf. FoGT 1884, 254 n. 1. Compare a very similar enumeration of the qualities of a poet and a troll-woman, respectively, in Bragi Troll and Anon (SnE) 9, where the first lines begin Skald kalla mik ‘They call me poet’ and Troll kalla mik ‘They call me troll’.

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mig ‘myself’

(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me

notes

[1] kalla mig ‘I call myself’: So translated here in view of the sense of the prose commentary, even though one would expect köllumz for ‘I call myself’. Two other interpretations of l. 1 are also possible, ‘they call me water’ and ‘call me water’; cf. FoGT 1884, 254 n. 1. Compare a very similar enumeration of the qualities of a poet and a troll-woman, respectively, in Bragi Troll and Anon (SnE) 9, where the first lines begin Skald kalla mik ‘They call me poet’ and Troll kalla mik ‘They call me troll’.

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vil ‘want’

(not checked:)
vilja (verb): want, intend

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hodd ‘gold’

(not checked:)
1. hodd (noun f.): gold, treasure < hoddveitir (noun m.)

[3] hodd‑: hodd‑ corrected from hold in scribal hand W

kennings

hoddveitir:
‘gold-giver: ’
   = GENEROUS MAN

gold-giver: → GENEROUS MAN
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veitir ‘giver’

(not checked:)
veitir (noun m.): giver < hoddveitir (noun m.)

kennings

hoddveitir:
‘gold-giver: ’
   = GENEROUS MAN

gold-giver: → GENEROUS MAN
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frams ‘of the outstanding’

(not checked:)
framr (adj.; °compar. framari/fremri, superl. framastr/fremstr): outstanding, foremost

kennings

frams grams hauðrfjörnis;
‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet; ’
   = God

the earth-helmet; → SKY/HEAVEN
the outstanding king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[3-4] frams grams hauðrfjörnis ‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’: Cf. Anon Líkn 19/6, 7, 8VII hreinn siklingr hauðrfjörnis ‘pure king of earth’s helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’.

Close

hauðr ‘of the earth’

(not checked:)
hauðr (noun n.): earth, ground < hauðrfjǫrnir (noun m.): [earth-helmet]

kennings

frams grams hauðrfjörnis;
‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet; ’
   = God

the earth-helmet; → SKY/HEAVEN
the outstanding king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[3-4] frams grams hauðrfjörnis ‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’: Cf. Anon Líkn 19/6, 7, 8VII hreinn siklingr hauðrfjörnis ‘pure king of earth’s helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’.

Close

hauðr ‘of the earth’

(not checked:)
hauðr (noun n.): earth, ground < hauðrfjǫrnir (noun m.): [earth-helmet]

kennings

frams grams hauðrfjörnis;
‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet; ’
   = God

the earth-helmet; → SKY/HEAVEN
the outstanding king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[3-4] frams grams hauðrfjörnis ‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’: Cf. Anon Líkn 19/6, 7, 8VII hreinn siklingr hauðrfjörnis ‘pure king of earth’s helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’.

Close

fjörnis ‘helmet’

(not checked:)
fjǫrnir (noun m.): helmet < hauðrfjǫrnir (noun m.): [earth-helmet]

kennings

frams grams hauðrfjörnis;
‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet; ’
   = God

the earth-helmet; → SKY/HEAVEN
the outstanding king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[3-4] frams grams hauðrfjörnis ‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’: Cf. Anon Líkn 19/6, 7, 8VII hreinn siklingr hauðrfjörnis ‘pure king of earth’s helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’.

Close

fjörnis ‘helmet’

(not checked:)
fjǫrnir (noun m.): helmet < hauðrfjǫrnir (noun m.): [earth-helmet]

kennings

frams grams hauðrfjörnis;
‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet; ’
   = God

the earth-helmet; → SKY/HEAVEN
the outstanding king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[3-4] frams grams hauðrfjörnis ‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’: Cf. Anon Líkn 19/6, 7, 8VII hreinn siklingr hauðrfjörnis ‘pure king of earth’s helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’.

Close

grams ‘king’

(not checked:)
1. gramr (noun m.): ruler

kennings

frams grams hauðrfjörnis;
‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet; ’
   = God

the earth-helmet; → SKY/HEAVEN
the outstanding king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

notes

[3-4] frams grams hauðrfjörnis ‘of the outstanding king of the earth-helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’: Cf. Anon Líkn 19/6, 7, 8VII hreinn siklingr hauðrfjörnis ‘pure king of earth’s helmet [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)]’.

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hreinsa ‘cleanse’

(not checked:)
2. hreinsa (verb): cleanse, purify

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alt ‘everything’

(not checked:)
allr (adj.): all

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vermi ‘warm’

(not checked:)
verma (verb): [warm]

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kalt ‘what is cold’

(not checked:)
kaldr (adj.; °compar. -ari): cold

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birti ‘brighten’

(not checked:)
2. birta (verb; °-rt-): reveal

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sjón ‘vision’

(not checked:)
sjón (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): eyes, sight

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tjón ‘loss’

(not checked:)
2. tjón (noun n.; °-s; -): loss

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

Stanza 12 illustrates the second kind of prosopopoeia, when something lifeless addresses something living. After the stanza the following explanation is given: her er sagt at ǫlmvsv giǫfín kalli sik vatn kristz, ok telr vpp dygðer sinar, eggiandi manninn til milldinnar, þviat sva sem vatnit slǫkver likamlegan elld, slikt hið sama slokkver ǫlmosan synda brvna ok þvær ꜳ þꜳ̋ leið sꜳ̋l, sem vatnit bv́kinn ‘here it is said that Alms-giving calls herself the water of Christ, and enumerates her virtues, urging the man to mercy, because, just as the water quenches bodily fire, in the same way alms quenches the fire of sins and washes the soul in that [same] way as the water [does] the body’.

The metre of this stanza is a variety of runhent ‘end-rhymed’, with tetrasyllabic lines (fornyrðislag Type E) rhyming in pairs.

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