Anon Mey 30VII
Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 30’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 910-11.
Agnes ‘Agnes’
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Agnes (noun f.): Agnes
var ‘was’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
með ‘with’
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með (prep.): with
elsku ‘love’
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1. elska (noun f.; °-u): love
tígnuð ‘honoured’
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tígna (verb): honour
Jésú ‘of Jesus’
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Jésús (noun m.): Jesus
blóm ‘flower’
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blóm (noun n.; °-s; -): flower
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
sjálfri ‘itself’
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sjalfr (adj.): self
Róma ‘Rome’
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Róma (noun f.): [Rome]
þrautir ‘tortured’
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þraut (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): struggle
háði ‘was’
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2. heyja (verb): fight, wage (battle)
þrettán ‘thirteen’
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þrettán (num. cardinal): thirteen
vetra ‘years’
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vetr (noun m.; °vetrar/vetrs(HómHauksb³ 173²³), dat. vetri; vetr): winter
mey ‘maiden’
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mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
við ‘by’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
notes
[4] við grimman hessi ‘by the wicked chieftain’: The prefect’s name was Simphronius according to the prose saga, though in st. 31/5 it is given as Síniformus (so 721). The form hessi, rather than hersi, is required here to give aðalhending with þessi.
grimman ‘wicked’
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grimmr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): fierce
notes
[4] við grimman hessi ‘by the wicked chieftain’: The prefect’s name was Simphronius according to the prose saga, though in st. 31/5 it is given as Síniformus (so 721). The form hessi, rather than hersi, is required here to give aðalhending with þessi.
hessi ‘chieftain’
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hersir (noun m.; °-is; -ar): cheiftan
notes
[4] við grimman hessi ‘by the wicked chieftain’: The prefect’s name was Simphronius according to the prose saga, though in st. 31/5 it is given as Síniformus (so 721). The form hessi, rather than hersi, is required here to give aðalhending with þessi.
Níðingrinn ‘The villain’
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níðingr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-; -ar): villian, scoundrel
bað ‘requested’
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biðja (verb; °biðr; bað, báðu; beðinn (beiþ- Martin¹ 573, bỏþ- HákEirsp 661, cf. ed. intr. xl)): ask for, order, pray
nökta ‘naked’
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nøkkviðr (adj.): naked
leiða ‘be led’
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2. leiða (verb; -dd): lead; (-sk) grow tired
Nönnu ‘the Nanna’
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Nanna (noun f.): Nanna
kennings
Nönnu gulls‘the Nanna of gold ’
= WOMAN
the Nanna of gold → WOMAN
gulls ‘of gold’
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gull (noun n.): gold
kennings
Nönnu gulls‘the Nanna of gold ’
= WOMAN
the Nanna of gold → WOMAN
hjá ‘past’
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hjá (prep.): beside, with
heiðnum ‘heathen’
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heiðinn (adj.): heathen
mönnum ‘men’
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maðr (noun m.): man, person
vildi ‘wanted’
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vilja (verb): want, intend
hann ‘he’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
að ‘’
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4. at (conj.): that
skammaz ‘to be ashamed’
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skamma (verb): [to be ashamed]
skyldi ‘’
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
skrautlig ‘splendid’
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skrautligr (adj.): fine, splendid
mær ‘maid’
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mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
ef ‘if’
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3. ef (conj.): if
alls ‘completely’
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allr (adj.): all < allsberr (adj.)
ber ‘nude’
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2. berr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): bare < allsberr (adj.)
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Agnes, the flower of Jesus, was honoured with love in Rome itself; this maiden, thirteen years old, was tortured by the wicked chieftain. The villain requested that the Nanna <goddess> of gold [WOMAN] be led naked past heathen men; he wanted the splendid maid to be ashamed, if she was completely nude.
Stanzas 30-2 celebrate S. Agnes, a Roman martyr who died at the age of thirteen, after refusing marriage to a young suitor and the undertaking of pagan rites. She was tortured and killed by being stabbed in the throat. A basilica was built on the site of her supposed remains c. 350AD and her name is mentioned in the traditional Canon of the Roman Mass. In Iceland her cult may have been introduced by Bishop Þorlákr (Cormack 1994, 18-21) but was not generally popular. Her feast day was adopted as a holy day of obligation in 1179 but removed in 1275 (Cormack 1994, 24). There are three fragmentary versions of a saga of S. Agnes in mss dating from C14-16th (Unger 1877, I, 15-22; Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 298; Foote 1962, 27; Cormack 1994, 75; Wolf 2003, 3-10, 153-4).
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