Anon Lil 16VII
Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lilja 16’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 581-2.
senn ‘’
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senn (adv.): at once
próvandi ‘one testing’
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prófa (verb): test, prove
að ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
[1] að: til 720a VIII, 99a, 713, 705ˣ, 4892, mier 622, við Vb, 41 8°ˣ
notes
[1] að: The later mss render the sentence as conventional direct discourse: Sem próvandi segir til Évu, ‘Svara mier skjótt!’ But as Nygaard attests (NS §280), mixed forms blending direct and indirect discourse are characteristic of ON, and there is no need to reject the slightly more difficult reading of Bb.
Éva ‘Eve’
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Eva (noun f.): [Eve, Eva]
[1] Éva: Évu 720a VIII, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892, Évam 622, 713
svara ‘answer’
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svara (verb): answer
mier ‘me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
skjótt ‘quickly’
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2. skjótr (adj.): quick(ly)
hví ‘Why’
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hví (adv.): why
[2] hví: því 720a VIII, 99a, 622, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892
dróttinn ‘the Lord’
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dróttinn (noun m.; °dróttins, dat. dróttni (drottini [$1049$]); dróttnar): lord, master
sætast ‘the sweetest’
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sœtr (adj.): sweet
ykkur ‘you’
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it (pron.; °gen. ykkar, dat./acc. ykkr): you (two)
blóm ‘fruit’
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blóm (noun n.; °-s; -): flower
að ‘to’
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5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
bíta ‘eat’
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bíta (verb; °bítr; beit, bitu; bitinn): bite
bannað ‘forbidden’
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2. banna (verb; °-að-): forbid, refuse
[4] bannað: bannað en 99a, 622, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892
lofað ‘allowed’
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lofa (verb): praise, permit
gjörvalt ‘’
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gǫrvallr (adj.): everything
flest ‘almost’
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fleiri (adj. comp.; °superl. flestr): more, most
[4] flest alt: gjörvalt Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892
annað ‘else’
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1. annarr (pron.; °f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir): (an)other, second
Svá ‘So’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
fer ‘’
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
notes
[5] er ‘that’: Bb’s reading is acceptable (so also 720a VIII and 713), alongside the majority mss’ að (see NS §267a).
svaraði ‘answered’
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svara (verb): answer
Éva ‘Eve’
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Eva (noun f.): [Eve, Eva]
sem ‘as’
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sem (conj.): as, which
marg ‘’
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2. margr (adj.; °-an): many < margbrugðinn (adj./verb p.p.)
notes
[6] margbrugðinn ‘shifty, often-changed’: Probably derived from the idiom bregða sier í líki ‘take on the form, appearance of something, somebody’ (see ONP: bregða), perhaps with the additional connotation ‘having made many winding, tortuous movements’ (JH). This is the earliest known occurrence of the word in ON: see Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4 for its use in MIcel.
brugðinn ‘the shifty’
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-brugðinn (adj.): [shifty] < margbrugðinn (adj./verb p.p.)
notes
[6] margbrugðinn ‘shifty, often-changed’: Probably derived from the idiom bregða sier í líki ‘take on the form, appearance of something, somebody’ (see ONP: bregða), perhaps with the additional connotation ‘having made many winding, tortuous movements’ (JH). This is the earliest known occurrence of the word in ON: see Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4 for its use in MIcel.
fjandinn ‘fiend’
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fjándi (noun m.; °-a; fjándr/fjándar/fjándir): enemy, devil
notes
[6] fjandinn ‘the enemy, the fiend’: The suffixed def. art. makes it clear that the reference is to the enemy, Lucifer.
hugði ‘had expected’
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2. hyggja (verb): think, consider
að ‘So that’
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4. at (conj.): that
ei ‘not’
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3. ei (adv.): not
[7] ei: om. 99a, eigum 622, eigi 713, við Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892
lefdi ‘’
fari ‘wander’
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
[7] fari: lefdi 720a VIII, om. 99a, 622, 713, eigum Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892
við ‘we’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
[7] við: við eigum 99a, om. Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892
notes
[7] við ‘we’: Must be pronounced við to rhyme with leið (JH). — [7] að við ei fari ‘so that we do not wander’: The various mss have different readings. Skj B and Skald follow 713 in reading at eigi við, omitting the verb. The final <m> of the 1st pers. pl. subj. farim is omitted in the presence of an immediately following pers. pron. (cf. ANG §531.3).
við ‘we’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
[7] við: við eigum 99a, om. Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892
notes
[7] við ‘we’: Must be pronounced við to rhyme with leið (JH). — [7] að við ei fari ‘so that we do not wander’: The various mss have different readings. Skj B and Skald follow 713 in reading at eigi við, omitting the verb. The final <m> of the 1st pers. pl. subj. farim is omitted in the presence of an immediately following pers. pron. (cf. ANG §531.3).
lífs ‘of life’
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líf (noun n.; °-s; -): life
leiðum ‘the paths’
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leið (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir/-ar): path, way
notes
[8] liettliga ‘perhaps’: JH points out that Fritzner: léttliga 5 attests to this meaning, as distinct from the more usual ‘readily, easily’, which the word clearly has in the parallel passage in Stjórn, where Lat. ne forte moriamur is rendered lettliga fyrir þa sauk at vit dæim eigi þar af ‘lest perhaps we should die of it’ (Unger 1862, 350). See also Foote 1982, 121.
hröpum ‘rush’
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hrapa (verb): [tumble down, rush]
[8] hröpum: hrapað 720a VIII, hrapa Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892
stiettir ‘the ways’
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stéttr (noun m.; °dat. -): order of things; way
notes
[8] stiettir ‘ways, stepping stones’: An echo of the first l. of Lil. If we take the second meaning, ‘stepping stones’, the implication is that Adam and Eve embark on a series of choices that lead from bad to worse.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
As one testing, he says, that ‘Eve, answer me quickly! Why has the Lord forbidden you to eat the sweetest fruit, but allowed almost everything else?’ So it went, that Eve answered, as the shifty fiend had expected: ‘So that we do not wander off the paths of life, perhaps rush into the ways of death.’
See Note on st. 15. — [7-8]: Foote (1982, 120) observes that these ll., combined with the word-play of ll. 1-2 of the following st. (ei, liettliga, Liettliga, liettleika) echo the word-play of Geoffrey of Vinsauf: ‘Hoc ideo ne forte per hoc moriamur.’ Ad illud ‘Forte’ minus fortem credentem vidit; et inde Fortior his illam vicit ... ‘She replied, ‘For this reason, indeed: lest perchance through it we die.’ At that ‘perchance’ he saw her unstable in faith; and then, gaining assurance, he overcame her with this ...’.
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