Anon Lil 24^VII

Nær og firr með skygnleik skýrum
skapandi alt með syni og anda
föðurpersónan, eingli einum
erindi býðr, en þessi hlýðir:
‘Fljúg, og seg það Máríu meyju
mætri, þeirri er eg skal gæta,
minn einkason holdi hennar
hlýðinnar vill björtu skrýðaz.’

Föðurpersónan, skapandi með syni og anda alt nær og firr með skýrum skygnleik, býðr einum eingli erindi, en þessi hlýðir: ‘Fljúg, og seg það mætri meyju Máríu, þeirri er eg skal gæta, minn einkason vill skrýðaz hennar, hlýðinnar, björtu holdi.’

The Father-person, creating with the Son and the Spirit everything near and far with clear vision, assigns an angel a mission, which he obeys: ‘Fly and say to the worthy maiden Mary, to the one whom I shall care for, [that] my only son wants to clothe himself with her, the obedient one’s, bright flesh.’

Mss: Bb(114rb), 720a VIII(2v), 99a(5v), 622(27), 713(8), Vb(249), 41 8°ˣ(112), 705ˣ(7r-v), 4892(28r)

Readings: [1] firr: fyr 99a;    skygnleik: skírleik 720a VIII, skilning Vb, 41 8°ˣ, skærleik 4892;    skýrum: skírum 713, skærum Vb, 41 8°ˣ    [2] skapandi: skipandi 720a VIII, Vb, 41 8°ˣ    [3] föðurpersónan: so 99a, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, feðr persónar Bb, 705ˣ, fagr persóna á 720a VIII, föðurpersóna 622, 4892    [4] erindi: erindið 99a, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892;    en: og 99a;    þessi: þessu hann 99a    [6] er: om. 720a VIII, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, eð 622;    skal: vil Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892    [8] hlýðinnar: hlýðrinnar 720a VIII, hlýðinn æ Vb, 41 8°ˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 371, Skj BII, 396-7, Skald II, 216.

Notes: [2] skapandi ‘creating’: The alternative reading skipandi ‘ordering’ also makes sense, and is preferred by Skj B and Skald. — [3] föðurpersónan ‘the Father-person’: A cpd expressing the concept ‘God the Father’. In the Bb reading, ‘feðr persónar’, the final r of persónar is superscript: perhaps the scribe mistakenly read and copied r for n. The pl. form feðr would not be inappropriate in itself in this mention of the three persons of the Trinity, but the sg. form of the verb býðr requires a sg. subject and the 2nd part of the cpd, persónam, sg. determines the grammatical number and föður goes more happily with sg. persónam. Cf. Gimsteinn 49/1: Faudur perſona (ÍM I.2, 315). — [7-8]: Cf. 29/7-8.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. ÍM = Jón Helgason, ed. 1936-8. Íslenzk miðaldarkvæði: Islandske digte fra senmiddelalderen. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.