Anon Mey 52VII
Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 52’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 923-4.
Barbara ‘Barbara’
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Barbara (noun f.): Barbara
frá ‘from’
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frá (prep.): from
blótum ‘sacrifices’
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blót (noun n.; °-s; -): sacrifice
horfið ‘turned away’
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1. hverfa (verb): turn, disappear
blíðufyld ‘full of grace’
og ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
skrýddiz ‘adorned herself’
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2. skrýða (verb): adorn, clothe
[2] skrýddiz fríðum: skríðiz síðan 713
notes
[2] skrýddiz fríðum ‘adorned herself with virtues’: The translation of fríðum is uncertain; here it is translated ‘virtues’ and understood as a substantival use of the adj. friðr ‘beautiful, fine’. LP: 1. fríðr adj. suggests that the noun kostum ‘good qualities, virtues’ may be understood.
fríðum ‘with virtues’
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fríðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): beautiful, fair
[2] skrýddiz fríðum: skríðiz síðan 713
notes
[2] skrýddiz fríðum ‘adorned herself with virtues’: The translation of fríðum is uncertain; here it is translated ‘virtues’ and understood as a substantival use of the adj. friðr ‘beautiful, fine’. LP: 1. fríðr adj. suggests that the noun kostum ‘good qualities, virtues’ may be understood.
hennar ‘her’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
faðir ‘father’
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faðir (noun m.): father
liet ‘had’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
sælan ‘blessed’
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sæll (adj.): happy, blessed
svanna ‘woman’
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svanni (noun m.): lady, woman
syrgiliga ‘sadly’
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syrgiliga (adv.): [sadly]
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
húsi ‘house’
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hús (noun n.; °-s; -): house
byrgja ‘locked’
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byrgja (verb; °-rgð-): lock
Kvíðu ‘fear’
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1. kvíða (noun f.; °-u; -ur): [fear, anxiety] < kvíðufullr (adj.)
fullu ‘ful’
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2. fullr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): full, complete < kvíðufullr (adj.)
[5] ‑fullu: fullir 721, fullar 713
kvalara ‘of tormentors’
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kvalari (noun m.; °-a; -ar): [tormentors]
þjóðir ‘Bands’
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þjóð (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -/-u; -ir): people
knífum ‘with knives’
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knífr (noun m.; °-s dat. -i; -ar): knife
skáru ‘cut’
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skera (verb): cut
brjóst ‘breast’
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brjóst (noun n.; °-s; -): breast, chest
af ‘off’
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af (prep.): from
vífi ‘woman’
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víf (noun n.): woman, wife
Ságu ‘Sága’
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Sága (noun f.): [Sága, for Sága]
kennings
Ságu gulls;‘the Sága of gold; ’
= WOMAN
the Sága of gold; → WOMAN
gulls ‘of gold’
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gull (noun n.): gold
kennings
Ságu gulls;‘the Sága of gold; ’
= WOMAN
the Sága of gold; → WOMAN
með ‘with’
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með (prep.): with
sverði ‘sword’
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sverð (noun n.; °-s; -): sword
notes
[7] vágu ‘they struck’: 713’s reading (from vega ‘to strike, slay’) is preferred over 721’s hjuggu, with similar sense, to give aðalhending (ságu:vágu), though skothending would be expected in an odd l.
seldiz ‘gave herself’
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4. selja (verb): hand over, sell, give
hun ‘she’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
enn ‘still’
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2. enn (adv.): still, yet, again
í ‘into’
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í (prep.): in, into
drottins ‘of the Lord’
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dróttinn (noun m.; °dróttins, dat. dróttni (drottini [$1049$]); dróttnar): lord, master
veldi ‘power’
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veldi (noun n.): realm
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Barbara, full of grace, turned away from sacrifices and adorned herself with virtues; her father had the blessed woman sadly locked in a house. Bands of tormentors cut with knives the breast off the fearful woman; with a sword [they] struck the Sága <goddess> of gold [WOMAN]; she still gave herself into the power of the Lord.
Like Christina, S. Barbara was a beautiful maiden whose father, Dioscurus, shut her up in a tower to keep her away from her numerous suitors. Dioscurus found out that Barbara had become a Christian, so he attempted to kill her, but she was miraculously removed from his reach. He then denounced her to the prefect of the province, who tortured her (including cutting off a breast; for this motif, see Wolf 1997) to make her renounce her faith. She refused to do so, whereupon her father was ordered to kill her, which he did, and was immediately struck by lightning. There are two C15th mss of a saga of S. Barbara, both independently derived from the same exemplar (Unger 1877, I, 153-7; Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 301; Wolf 2000 and 2003, 142-7 and 176-7). For evidence of her cult in Iceland, see Cormack 1994, 2, 16, 19 n. 26, 29, 37, 83-4 and Wolf 2000, 68-72.
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