Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 54’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 925.
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tíu (num. cardinal): ten
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1. þúsund (noun f.; °; -ir): thousand
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tígn (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): honour
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mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
[1] meyja: meyjar 713
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telja (verb): tell, count
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
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greina (verb): explain, divide
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3. réttr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): right, straight, direct
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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2. einn (pron.; °decl. cf. einn num.): one, alone
[3] Ussula ‘Ursula’: The rhyme with þessum shows that there has been assimilation of rs to ss, even though the mss do not show it orthographically.
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
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allr (adj.): all
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1. sjá (pron.; °gen. þessa dat. þessum/þeima, acc. þenna; f. sjá/þessi; n. þetta, dat. þessu/þvísa; pl. þessir): this
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England (noun n.): England
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
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til (prep.): to
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Róma (noun f.): [Rome]
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vænn (adj.): beautiful, expected
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mær (noun f.; °meyjar, dat. meyju; meyjar): maiden
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hǫggva (verb): to strike, put to death, cut, hew
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skýfa (verb): cut, slash
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brúðr (noun f.; °brúðar, dat. & acc. brúði; brúðir): woman, bride
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dróttinn (noun m.; °dróttins, dat. dróttni (drottini [$1049$]); dróttnar): lord, master
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dýrka (verb; °-að-): glorify, worship
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
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nú (adv.): now
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Kolni (noun f.): [Cologne]
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kirkja (noun f.): church
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1. kraftr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/- ; -ar): power < kraftaríkr (adj.)
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ríkr (adj.): mighty, powerful, rich < kraftaríkr (adj.)
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af (prep.): from
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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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1. lík (noun n.; °-s; -): body, shape
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Recording correctly, I count 11,000 [lit. ten thousand and one] maidens of distinction; Ursula, the flower of England, who went to Rome, was the leader of them all. The Huns slew the beautiful maidens; the swords slashed the brides of the Lord [HOLY WOMEN]; the church of Cologne, rich in miracles, is now worshipped because of their bodies.
The story of S. Ursula and her 11,000 virgin martyr companions has some similarities to that of Sunniva. It was known in Iceland from Breta sögur (first half of C13th), a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britaniae (c. 1136). There is also a brief epitome of the legend in a C14th ms. (Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 335). On the cult in Iceland, see Cormack 1994, 29, 34-5, 158. In its elaborated form, the legend of Ursula grew out of a veneration of a small number of unnamed virgins at Cologne in C4th, but, by the C12th, Ursula had become the daughter of a king of Britain. She, together with 11,000 virgins, went on a pilgrimage to Rome and, on their return journey they were murdered by the Huns at Cologne on account of their Christian faith.
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