Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 22’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 905-6.
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meiri (adj. comp.; °meiran; superl. mestr): more, most
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
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maðr (noun m.): man, person
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Kristr (noun m.; °-s/-, dat. -i; -ar): Christ
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Maxencíus (noun m.): [Maxentius]
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písl (noun f.; °-ar; -ir/-ar(Maurit 650²²)): torture
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vaxa (verb): grow, increase
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2. einn (pron.; °decl. cf. einn num.): one, alone
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
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jungfrú (noun f.): maiden, virgin
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vænn (adj.): beautiful, expected
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óteljandi (adj.): [with innumerable]
[4] óteljandi: óteljanda 713
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kvelja (verb): torment, torture
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Kátrína (noun f.): [Catherine]
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2. vinna (verb): perform, work
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sigr (noun m.; °sigrs/sigrar, dat. sigri; sigrar): victory
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2. inn (art.): the
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sœtr (adj.): sweet
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sœtr (adj.): sweet
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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fagr (adj.; °fagran; compar. fegri, superl. fegrstr): fair, beautiful
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3. á (prep.): on, at
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spekingr (noun m.; °-s; -ar): wise man
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1. þræta (noun f.; °-u; -ur): quarrel
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1. bjarga (verb; °bergr (biærgr Alk619 77⁹; biargr ÓH619 119¹); barg, burgu; borginn): to save, preserve
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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bragnar (noun m.): men, warriors
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2. margr (adj.; °-an): many
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brúðr (noun f.; °brúðar, dat. & acc. brúði; brúðir): woman, bride
[8] brúður kóngs trúði á guðs son ‘the wife of the king believed in the son of God’: According to her vita, Maxentius’s wife and the leader of his troops, Porphyry, visited Catherine in prison, and were persuaded by her to become Christians, whereupon they were themselves martyred.
[8] brúður kóngs trúði á guðs son ‘the wife of the king believed in the son of God’: According to her vita, Maxentius’s wife and the leader of his troops, Porphyry, visited Catherine in prison, and were persuaded by her to become Christians, whereupon they were themselves martyred.
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3. á (prep.): on, at
[8] brúður kóngs trúði á guðs son ‘the wife of the king believed in the son of God’: According to her vita, Maxentius’s wife and the leader of his troops, Porphyry, visited Catherine in prison, and were persuaded by her to become Christians, whereupon they were themselves martyred.
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1. guð (noun m.; °***guðrs, guðis, gus): (Christian) God
[8] brúður kóngs trúði á guðs son ‘the wife of the king believed in the son of God’: According to her vita, Maxentius’s wife and the leader of his troops, Porphyry, visited Catherine in prison, and were persuaded by her to become Christians, whereupon they were themselves martyred.
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sonr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. syni; synir, acc. sonu, syni): son
[8] brúður kóngs trúði á guðs son ‘the wife of the king believed in the son of God’: According to her vita, Maxentius’s wife and the leader of his troops, Porphyry, visited Catherine in prison, and were persuaded by her to become Christians, whereupon they were themselves martyred.
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2. trúa (verb): to believe (in)
[8] brúður kóngs trúði á guðs son ‘the wife of the king believed in the son of God’: According to her vita, Maxentius’s wife and the leader of his troops, Porphyry, visited Catherine in prison, and were persuaded by her to become Christians, whereupon they were themselves martyred.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Stanzas 22-4 praise the virgin martyr S. Catherine of Alexandria, also the subject of Kálf Kátr (q.v.) and a C14th saga (Unger 1877, I, 400-21; Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 304-5; Wolf 2003, 123-41, 174-6). Her cult in Iceland, though popular, appears not to have taken hold until C13th (Cormack 1994, 86-8). According to legend, Catherine of Alexandria was a high-born, learned and beautiful virgin who denounced the worship of pagan idols to the emperor Maxentius and successfully debated this issue with fifty philosophers, who then converted to Christianity. She refused to deny her Christian faith and marry the emperor, for which she was beaten and then imprisoned. Later she was tortured on a spiked wheel, but it fell to pieces, leaving her unhurt. Finally, Catherine was beheaded, and milk, not blood, flowed from her severed veins. Angels carried her body to Mount Sinai.
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