Anon Líkn 44VII
George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 44’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 280.
Ér ‘You’
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ér (pron.; °gen. yðvar/yðar, dat./acc. yðr): you
meguð ‘may’
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mega (verb): may, might
undir ‘wounds’
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1. und (noun f.; °; -ir): wound
stórar ‘great’
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stórr (adj.): large, great
yðars ‘your’
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yðvarr (pron.; °f. yður; pl. yðrir): your
græðis ‘healer’s’
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grœðir (noun m.): ?healer, ?ocean
notes
[2] græðis ‘healer’s’: Just as in 31/3, when lýðs læknir ‘mankind’s healer [= Christ]’ dies, the use of græðir is paradoxical here; the one who heals is himself afflicted with wounds. The nomen agentis, formed from græða ‘to grow, nourish, heal’ also resonates with the poem’s recurrent use of ár ‘(year’s) abundance’ in kennings for God or Christ.
sjá ‘see’
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2. sjá (verb): see
blæða ‘bleed’
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blœða (verb; °-dd-): bleed
eru ‘are’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
sýnt ‘clearly’
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sýnn (adj.): visible
þó ‘though’
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þó (adv.): though
at ‘’
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4. at (conj.): that
sárar ‘grievous’
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sárr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): sore, painful; wounded
sak ‘guilt’
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sǫk (noun f.; °sakar; sakar/sakir): cause, offence < saklauss (adj.): innocent, without cause
lausum ‘less’
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lauss (adj.; °compar. lausari): loose, free, without < saklauss (adj.): innocent, without cause
mér ‘me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
vaktar ‘dealt’
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1. vekja (verb): awaken, rouse
notes
[4] vaktar (p.p.) ‘dealt’: Vekja e-m undir lit. ‘to awaken wounds (in) someone’ is otherwise unattested; LP does not cite the occurrence, LP (1860) gives vulnera infligere cui ‘to inflict wounds on someone’. Somewhat similar, however, are vekja blóð ‘call forth blood’ and vekja víg ‘awaken battle’. Vekja can also mean ‘to rouse, begin, cause’; possibly ‘to cause someone wounds’.
mín ‘my’
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minn (pron.; °f. mín, n. mitt): my
mildi ‘mercy’
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mildi (noun f.): generosity, mercy
raunar ‘in reality’
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raun (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): ordeal, proof, experience
notes
[5] raunar ‘in reality’: Gen. sg. of raun ‘reality, test’ used adverbially.
mest ‘most’
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meiri (adj. comp.; °meiran; superl. mestr): more, most
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
yðrir ‘your’
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yðvarr (pron.; °f. yður; pl. yðrir): your
lestir ‘sins’
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lǫstr (noun m.; °lastar, dat. lesti/lǫst; lestir, acc. lǫstu/lasta(Mar655XXXII 462)): fault, sin
veldr ‘cause’
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valda (verb): cause
notes
[7] veldr ‘cause(s)’: The 3rd pers. sg. verb is governed by its first subject mildi ‘mercy’ even though the subject is compounded by yðrir lestir ‘your sins’ (see NS §70).
at ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
verða ‘be’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
skyldi ‘should’
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
notes
[7-8] vísi lýðs skyldi ‘the prince of the people should’: 399a-bˣ, Sveinbjörn Egilsson, Skj, and Skald all read víst ‘certainly’ for vísi ‘prince’; the scribe of B appears first to have begun to write ‘vist’ then to have corrected it to ‘visí’ with a heavy accent. Skyldi ‘should’ is 3rd pers. subj., whose subject Skj takes to be an understood hann; this, however, agrees awkwardly with mín (l. 5), hence Skj B translates at han (jeg) skulde ‘that he (I) should’. NN §2332 attempts to improve agreement by arguing that ms. ‘skullde’ simply reflects the later 1st pers. sg. (Icel. skyldi) and should be ‘normalised’ to skylda. Both the awkwardness and emendation are avoided with the reading vísi ‘prince’.
vist ‘’
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vist (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): abode, lodging, provisions
vísi ‘the prince’
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vísi (noun m.; °-a): leader
[8] vísi: ‘visí’ corrected from ‘vist’ B, vist 399a‑bˣ
notes
[7-8] vísi lýðs skyldi ‘the prince of the people should’: 399a-bˣ, Sveinbjörn Egilsson, Skj, and Skald all read víst ‘certainly’ for vísi ‘prince’; the scribe of B appears first to have begun to write ‘vist’ then to have corrected it to ‘visí’ with a heavy accent. Skyldi ‘should’ is 3rd pers. subj., whose subject Skj takes to be an understood hann; this, however, agrees awkwardly with mín (l. 5), hence Skj B translates at han (jeg) skulde ‘that he (I) should’. NN §2332 attempts to improve agreement by arguing that ms. ‘skullde’ simply reflects the later 1st pers. sg. (Icel. skyldi) and should be ‘normalised’ to skylda. Both the awkwardness and emendation are avoided with the reading vísi ‘prince’.
lýðs ‘of the people’
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lýðr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir): one of the people
notes
[7-8] vísi lýðs skyldi ‘the prince of the people should’: 399a-bˣ, Sveinbjörn Egilsson, Skj, and Skald all read víst ‘certainly’ for vísi ‘prince’; the scribe of B appears first to have begun to write ‘vist’ then to have corrected it to ‘visí’ with a heavy accent. Skyldi ‘should’ is 3rd pers. subj., whose subject Skj takes to be an understood hann; this, however, agrees awkwardly with mín (l. 5), hence Skj B translates at han (jeg) skulde ‘that he (I) should’. NN §2332 attempts to improve agreement by arguing that ms. ‘skullde’ simply reflects the later 1st pers. sg. (Icel. skyldi) and should be ‘normalised’ to skylda. Both the awkwardness and emendation are avoided with the reading vísi ‘prince’.
fyr ‘subjected to’
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
píslum ‘torments’
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písl (noun f.; °-ar; -ir/-ar(Maurit 650²²)): torture
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[1-3]: The first three ll. are septasyllabic; ll. 5 and 7 would be without elision.
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