Anon Lil 54VII
Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lilja 54’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 624.
Höfuðdrotningin, harmi þrungin,
hneigð og lút, er skálf af sútum,
færðiz nær, þá er fell ór sárum
fossum blóðið niðr á krossinn.
Þrútnar brjóst, en hjartað hristiz;
hold er klökt, en öndin snöktir;
augun tóku að drukna drjúgum
döpr og móð í tára flóði.
Höfuðdrotningin, þrungin harmi, er skálf af sútum, hneigð og lút, færðiz nær, þá er blóðið ór sárum fell fossum niðr á krossinn. Brjóst þrútnar, en hjartað hristiz; hold er klökt, en öndin snöktir; augun tóku að drukna drjúgum, döpr og móð í flóði tára.
The supreme queen, filled with grief, who trembled with sorrows, bowed and bent, moved close, when the blood from the wounds fell in torrents down over the cross. The breast swells, and the heart trembles; the flesh is weak, and the spirit sobs; the eyes began to drown terribly, sad and weary in a flood of tears.
Mss: Bb(115rb), 99a(11r), 622(32-33), 713(10), Vb(252), 41 8°ˣ(122-123), 705ˣ(14r), 4892(33v)
Readings: [1] harmi: af harmi 99a [2] hneigð: bjúg 622; er: hun 99a, 622, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ [3] færðiz: og færdiz 99a, 705ˣ; þá er: þá 99a, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, því 4892; ór: af 622, úr 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892 [4] á: um 99a, 622, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, 4892 [5] brjóst: blóð 713; hristiz: ‘hixtir’ 713, hirtiz 41 8°ˣ [6] hold er: hold var 99a, holdið 622, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892, hold Vb; öndin: ‘audenn’ 713; snöktir: snökti 99a, 622, 713, Vb, 41 8°ˣ, 4892 [8] tára: tárum 622
Editions: Skj AII, 380-1, Skj BII, 404, Skald II, 221.
Notes: [5] brjóst ‘breast’: Cf. 2/5 and Note. — [6] klökt ‘weak, soft, pliable’: The implication is that Mary could not hold herself upright. — [6] öndin ‘spirit, soul, breath’: JH prefers the last meaning: ‘her breath came in sobs’. In favour of understanding ‘soul’ is the resulting flesh/spirit topos. — [6] snöktir ‘sobs’: Bb has the 3rd pers. pres. indic. of snökta ‘to sob, whine’, whereas the majority of mss have the pret. snökti.
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