Gamlkan Has 52^VII

Hlaut Máría mætum
miskunn af gram sunnu,
víns þás virða reynis
Vôr þó fœtr með tárum.
Snjallr vann snót frá ǫllum
senn misgerðum hennar
gumna vǫrðr, þeims gerði,
— guði treystisk Bil — leysta.

Máría hlaut miskunn af {mætum gram sunnu}, þás {Vôr víns} þó fœtr {reynis virða} með tárum. {Snjallr vǫrðr gumna} vann senn leysta snót frá ǫllum misgerðum hennar, þeims gerði; Bil treystisk guði.

Mary received mercy from {the illustrious prince of the sun} [= God (= Christ)], when {the Vôr <goddess> of wine} [WOMAN = Mary Magdalene] washed the feet {of the tester of men} [= God (= Christ)] with her tears. {The wise guardian of men} [= God (= Christ)] immediately released the woman from all her sins, which she had committed; Bil <goddess> trusted in God.

Mss: B(13r), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [3] víns: ‘v[...]s’ B, ‘vịṇs’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘vi(ns)’(?) BRydberg, ‘vi(n)s’(?) BFJ    [4] fœtr með: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...]ed’ B    [7] gumna: ‘[...]a’ B, ‘gụṃṇa’ 399a‑bˣ, ‘[...](n)a’(?) BRydberg, ‘(gumn)a’(?) BFJ

Editions: Skj AI, 569, Skj BI, 561, Skald I, 271, NN §1209; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 29-30, Kempff 1867, 15-16, Konrað Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson 1875-89, II, 356, Rydberg 1907, 29, Black 1971, 267, Attwood 1996a, 235.

Notes: [1] Máría ‘Mary [Magdalene]’: Bugge (1889a, 22) wrongly interprets this as a reference to the Virgin Mary. The identification of the repentant sinner who annoints Christ’s feet in Luke VII.36-9 with the woman who does the same thing, but is not described as a sinner, in Mark XIV.3-9 and Matt. XXVI.6-13 is a logical one. The identification of this conflated character with Mary Magdalene, which seems to date at least from C6th (Warner 2000, 226-8), is presumably due to a literal interpretation of Christ’s words mittens enim haec unguentum hoc in corpus meum ad sepeliendum me fecit ‘for she in pouring this ointment upon my body, hath done it for my burial’ (Matt. XXVI.12). Mary Magdalene’s repentance is also the subject of Anon Mey 11-13. Her cult is generally held to have begun after 1200 in Iceland; there was reportedly an image of her at Þykkvabær monastery, though its age cannot be determined, and may well have dated from after Gamli’s time (Cormack 1994, 130). — [2] miskunn af gram sunnu ‘mercy from the prince of the sun’: The miskunn:sunnu rhyme is also exploited at 65/4 miskunn jǫfurr sunnu. This l. also occurs in Leið 42/6. — [8] Bil ‘Bil <goddess>’: Kock (NN §1209) notes that previous eds have been reluctant to accept that Bil can stand alone as a half-kenning. There is, as he says, an undue concern for the plight of oklädda guddinor ‘naked goddesses’, that is, goddess names that are not qualified by a term for gold or treasure or some female attribute (cf. LP: Bil). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) attempts to provide such an attribute by emending gerði (l. 7) to gerðu, gen. sg. of gerða ‘feminine attire’, producing the woman-kenning Bil gerðu ‘goddess of clothing’. This necessitates the omission of þeim (l. 7). Rydberg (1907, lxxiv) approves Finnur’s emendation, and suggests that þá er could be substituted for the ms. reading here, taking the intercalated phrase to be þá er Bil gerðu treystisk guði ‘when the goddess of clothing trusted God’. As Kock (NN §§1209, 1072) suggests, this ‘prudery’ is a feature of Finnur’s edn: it is interesting to note that, of the four occurrences of gerða listed in LP, three appear in conjunction with a goddess-name, and two of those depend on emendation. There is no obvious reason why the ms. reading cannot be retained here, and Bil treated, as Kock (NN §1209) suggests, as a half-kenning for ‘woman’.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
7. Black, Elizabeth L. 1971. ‘Harmsól: an edition’. B. Litt. thesis. University of Oxford.
8. Bugge, Sophus. 1889a. ‘Om versene i Kormáks saga’. ÅNOH, 1-88.
9. Cormack, Margaret. 1994a. The Saints in Iceland: Their Veneration from the Conversion to 1400. Studia Hagiographica 78. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes.
10. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
11. Warner, Marina. 2000. Alone of all her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary. London: Vintage.
12. Kempff, Hjalmar, ed. 1867. Kaniken Gamles ‘Harmsól’ (Sol i Sorgen): isländskt andligt qväde från medeltiden med öfversättning och förklaringar. Uppsala: Edquist & Berglund.
13. SnE 1982 = Snorri Sturluson. 1982. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. Oxford: Clarendon. Rpt. 1988. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1844. Fjøgur gømul kvæði. Boðsrit til að hlusta á þá opinberu yfirheyrslu í Bessastaða Skóla þann 22-29 mai 1844. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla. Bessastaðir: Helgi Helgason.
15. Internal references
16. Not published: do not cite (GSúrs^V)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 25 April 2024)
18. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 42’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 175-6.
19. Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 11’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 898-9.
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2022, ‘Gísla saga Súrssonar 36 (Gísli Súrsson, Lausavísur 33)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 608.