Anonymous Poems, Drápa af Máríugrát 1

Kari Ellen Gade

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Mgr 1^VII

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Drápa af Máríugrát 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 759-60.

Anonymous Poems Drápa af Máríugrát

1 2

til ‘for’

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til (prep.): to

mærðar ‘the praise’

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mærð (noun f.): praise

minn ‘My’

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minn (pron.; °f. mín, n. mitt): my

lausnari ‘redeemer’

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lausnari (noun m.; °-a;): saviour, redeemer

skáldi ‘poet’

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skáld (noun n.; °-s; -): poet

þínu ‘to your’

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þinn (pron.; °f. þín, n. þitt): your

þinnar ‘of your’

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þinn (pron.; °f. þín, n. þitt): your

móður ‘mother’

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móðir (noun f.): mother

mildi ‘for mercy’

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mildi (noun f.): generosity, mercy

kunnrar ‘renowned’

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kunnr (adj.): known (?)

mála ‘with speech’

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1. mál (noun n.; °-s; -): speech, matter

örr ‘generous’

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ǫrr (adj.): generous, brave

og ‘and’

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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

hjálpa ‘save’

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1. hjalpa (verb): help

notes

[4] hjálpa (imp. sg.) ‘save’: Declined as a weak verb here (see ANG §495, Anm. 5).

sálu ‘the soul’

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sál (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): soul

Eini ‘the juniper’

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eini (noun n.): [juniper]

[5] Eini: einn 713

notes

[5] eini ‘juniper’: So Skj B and Skald. Einn (m. nom. or acc. sg.) ‘one’, (so 713) makes little sense. Wrightson retains einn and translates the l. as ‘you showed Aron’s kinsman [Moses] one’, with viðr ‘bush, tree’ understood (so also Sperber). The emendation to eini ‘juniper’ renders þú ‘you’ extrametrical, and the pron. has been deleted in Skj B and Skald. The deletion is unnecessary if we assume a l. of Type A with two unstressed syllables in the dip.

sýndir ‘showed’

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sýna (verb): show, seem

þú ‘You’

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þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you

Áróns ‘to Aaron’s’

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Árón (noun m.): [Aaron, to Aaron]

kennings

Áróns frænda
‘to Aaron’s kinsman; ’
= Moses
to Aaron’s kinsman; → Moses

frænda ‘kinsman’

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frændi (noun m.): kinsman, male relative

kennings

Áróns frænda
‘to Aaron’s kinsman; ’
= Moses
to Aaron’s kinsman; → Moses

aldri ‘never’

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aldri (adv.): never

brann ‘consumed’

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2. brenna (verb; °brennr/brenn; brann, brunnu; brunninn): (strong, intransitive)

notes

[6] brann ‘consumed’: Lit. ‘burned’. The verb is used is the sense ‘was consumed’ (see NN §3354A). For Moses and the burning bush untouched by flames, see Exod. III.2. In medieval Europe the Biblical burning bush was often understood as a juniper, which was credited with the ability to burn very slowly (cf. the late ME poem Craft of Lovers 16, O intemerat jenypere ‘O unblemished juniper’ of a courtly lady and/or the Virgin Mary (Kooper 1987, 473-89, at 476 and 485 n. to l. 16)).

þó ‘yet’

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þó (adv.): though

viðrinn ‘bush’

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1. viðr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ir, acc. -u/-i): wood, tree

kaldi ‘the cold’

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kaldr (adj.; °compar. -ari): cold

lát ‘let’

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láta (verb): let, have sth done

þú ‘’

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þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you

kveikjaz ‘be kindled’

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2. kveikja (verb): kindle

lágina ‘the log’

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lág (noun f.; °; -ir): log

[7] lágina: ‘lo᷎gínn’ 713

notes

[7] lágina (f. acc. sg.) ‘the log’: The ms. reading ‘lo᷎ginn’ can only be rendered as lögin (n. acc. pl.) ‘the laws’ (so Skj B), which makes the l. hypometrical (two short syllables cannot occupy a stressed and an unstressed position in metrical positions 5-6 in liljulag). Furthermore, it is not clear why the poet would want divine laws to inspire his creation. Skald emends to lágina (f. acc. sg.) ‘the log’ (see NN §1665), which is metrically correct and makes sense in the present context (see eini ‘juniper’ and viðr ‘wood’ in ll. 5, 6): the poet asks that an eternal fire of divine inspiration be kindled in his breast. Wrightson supplies loginn ‘the flame’. According to that interpretation, ‘the flame of the lord of lightnings’ shrine’ is a kenning for the Holy Ghost, but loginn (m. nom. sg.) ‘the flame’ is ungrammatical because the acc. inf. construction requires the acc. logann and the l. is still unmetrical.