Anon (FoGT) 21III
Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 21’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 597.
er ‘whom’
(not checked:)
2. er (conj.): who, which, when
eg ‘I’
(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
notes
[1] leyfi ‘praise’: The rhyme with mjóva ‘slim’ shows that [f] in leyfi has been voiced in intervocalic position (cf. st. 37/7).
leyfi ‘praise’
(not checked:)
leyfa (verb): permit; praise
notes
[1] leyfi ‘praise’: The rhyme with mjóva ‘slim’ shows that [f] in leyfi has been voiced in intervocalic position (cf. st. 37/7).
mey ‘girl’
(not checked:)
mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
mjóva ‘slim’
(not checked:)
mjór (adj.; °mjóvan; comp. mjór(r)i/mjár(r)i, superl. -str/mjóvastr): slender
mær ‘the girl’
(not checked:)
mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
er ‘is’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
þín ‘yours’
(not checked:)
þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
fyr ‘for’
(not checked:)
fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
notes
[2] fyr vild sína ‘for her goodwill’: This phrase can either be construed as part of a rel. clause, er eg leyfi fyr vild sína, as here, or with mær er þín, as Björn Magnússon Ólsen does (FoGT 1884, 270-1), understanding it to imply ‘of her own free will’. Wellendorf (forthcoming) also supports this interpretation. The imagined scenario is presumably that of a woman giving a man permission to woo the girl, perhaps her daughter, in marriage.
vild ‘goodwill’
(not checked:)
vilð (noun f.; °-ar; dat. -um): [wish, goodwill]
notes
[2] vild ‘goodwill’: Another long-stemmed noun in metrical position 4 in a D4-line (see Note to st. 15/1). — [2] fyr vild sína ‘for her goodwill’: This phrase can either be construed as part of a rel. clause, er eg leyfi fyr vild sína, as here, or with mær er þín, as Björn Magnússon Ólsen does (FoGT 1884, 270-1), understanding it to imply ‘of her own free will’. Wellendorf (forthcoming) also supports this interpretation. The imagined scenario is presumably that of a woman giving a man permission to woo the girl, perhaps her daughter, in marriage.
vild ‘goodwill’
(not checked:)
vilð (noun f.; °-ar; dat. -um): [wish, goodwill]
notes
[2] vild ‘goodwill’: Another long-stemmed noun in metrical position 4 in a D4-line (see Note to st. 15/1). — [2] fyr vild sína ‘for her goodwill’: This phrase can either be construed as part of a rel. clause, er eg leyfi fyr vild sína, as here, or with mær er þín, as Björn Magnússon Ólsen does (FoGT 1884, 270-1), understanding it to imply ‘of her own free will’. Wellendorf (forthcoming) also supports this interpretation. The imagined scenario is presumably that of a woman giving a man permission to woo the girl, perhaps her daughter, in marriage.
sína ‘her’
(not checked:)
3. sinn (pron.; °f. sín, n. sitt): (refl. poss. pron.)
notes
[2] fyr vild sína ‘for her goodwill’: This phrase can either be construed as part of a rel. clause, er eg leyfi fyr vild sína, as here, or with mær er þín, as Björn Magnússon Ólsen does (FoGT 1884, 270-1), understanding it to imply ‘of her own free will’. Wellendorf (forthcoming) also supports this interpretation. The imagined scenario is presumably that of a woman giving a man permission to woo the girl, perhaps her daughter, in marriage.
Hörn ‘the Hörn’
(not checked:)
1. Hǫrn (noun f.): [Hörn, Hǫrn]
kennings
Hörn horna‘the Hörn of drinking horns ’
= WOMAN
the Hörn of drinking horns → WOMAN
mælti ‘said’
(not checked:)
1. mæla (verb): speak, say
horna ‘of drinking horns’
(not checked:)
horn (noun n.; °-s; -): horn
kennings
Hörn horna‘the Hörn of drinking horns ’
= WOMAN
the Hörn of drinking horns → WOMAN
hjör ‘of the sword’
(not checked:)
hjǫrr (noun m.): sword < hjǫrþing (noun n.): sword-assembly
kennings
kringinn bör hjörþings.‘the smart tree of the sword-assembly.’
= WARRIOR
the sword-assembly. → BATTLE
the smart tree of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
hjör ‘of the sword’
(not checked:)
hjǫrr (noun m.): sword < hjǫrþing (noun n.): sword-assembly
kennings
kringinn bör hjörþings.‘the smart tree of the sword-assembly.’
= WARRIOR
the sword-assembly. → BATTLE
the smart tree of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
þings ‘assembly’
(not checked:)
þing (noun n.; °-s; -): meeting, assembly < hjǫrþing (noun n.): sword-assembly
kennings
kringinn bör hjörþings.‘the smart tree of the sword-assembly.’
= WARRIOR
the sword-assembly. → BATTLE
the smart tree of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
þings ‘assembly’
(not checked:)
þing (noun n.; °-s; -): meeting, assembly < hjǫrþing (noun n.): sword-assembly
kennings
kringinn bör hjörþings.‘the smart tree of the sword-assembly.’
= WARRIOR
the sword-assembly. → BATTLE
the smart tree of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
við ‘to’
(not checked:)
2. við (prep.): with, against
bör ‘tree’
(not checked:)
bǫrr (noun m.): tree
kennings
kringinn bör hjörþings.‘the smart tree of the sword-assembly.’
= WARRIOR
the sword-assembly. → BATTLE
the smart tree of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
kringinn ‘the smart’
(not checked:)
kringinn (adj./verb p.p.): [smart]
kennings
kringinn bör hjörþings.‘the smart tree of the sword-assembly.’
= WARRIOR
the sword-assembly. → BATTLE
the smart tree of the BATTLE → WARRIOR
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Stanzas 21-2 illustrate the rhetorical figure of antiptosis (antitosus in FoGT). The author writes that this figure is characterised by the deliberate alteration of number, case or tense, and cites st. 21 as illustrating the substitution of an accusative for a nominative case.
Björn Magnússon Ólsen (FoGT 1884, 271) is almost certainly correct when he argues that the grammatical and syntactical construction of ll. 1-2 imitates a Latin construction like urbem quam statuo, vestra est ‘the city which I found is yours’ (Virgil, Aeneid I, 573), adapted by medieval grammarians like Évrard of Béthune (Wrobel 1887, 5, l. 40), following Donatus, to exemplify antiptosis. The Icelandic example here places þá mjóva mey ‘that slim girl’ in the same position as Lat. urbem ‘city’ (acc.) and then in the main clause has the alternative form of the noun mey, viz. mær er þín ‘the girl is yours’ in parallel with the Lat. nom. vestra [urbs] est. Evidently neither Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) nor Kock (Skald) understood how closely the Icelandic imitates the Latin here, because both eds emended W’s ‘þá er’ in l. 1 to þá. This gives the sense in ll. 1-2: ‘I praise that slim girl for her goodwill; the girl is yours’. However, there is no way that this emended construction can exemplify a change from acc. to nom. case of the noun mey/mær.
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