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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Mgr 30VII

Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Drápa af Máríugrát 30’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 780-1.

Anonymous PoemsDrápa af Máríugrát
293031

‘Skylt er að tjá, það er mildingr mælti
mána hauðrs í písl við dauða:
“Þystir mig,” kvað herra inn hæsti
hlýrna; má það aldri fyrnaz.
Geira lundar galli blandað
gumna þjóðir skapara bjóða
vínið súrt, en harm í hjarta
hafða eg riett, sem edik krafði.’

‘Er skylt að tjá, það er {mildingr {hauðrs mána}} mælti í písl við dauða: “Mig þystir,” kvað {inn hæsti herra hlýrna}; það má aldri fyrnaz. {Lundar geira}, þjóðir gumna, bjóða skapara súrt vínið blandað galli, sem krafði edik, en eg hafða harm riett í hjarta.’

‘I am obliged to tell what {the ruler {of the land of the moon}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)] said in his Passion near death: “I thirst,” said {the highest lord of the sun and moon} [= God (= Christ)]; that can never be forgotten. {The trees of spears} [WARRIORS], the crowds of men, offer the Creator the sour wine mixed with gall, as if he had asked for vinegar, and I had torment right in my heart.’

Mss: 713(126), 1032ˣ(69v), 920ˣ(208v)

Readings: [2] dauða: so 1032ˣ, 920ˣ, ‘dauð[...]’ 713    [3] kvað: so 1032ˣ, 920ˣ, ‘k[...]’ 713    [8] riett: so 1032ˣ, 920ˣ, ‘rie[...]’ 713;    edik: edik 713

Editions: Skj AII, 478, Skj BII, 513-14, Skald II, 281, NN §§1664A, 1671, 2680B, 2690; Kahle 1898, 62, Sperber 1911, 37, 75, Wrightson 2001, 15.

Notes: [4] hlýrna ‘of the sun and moon’: See Note to 2/1. For the uneven rhyme (-ýrn- : -yrn-), see 21/2. — [6] þjóðir gumna ‘the crowds of men’: Skj B and Skald emend to þjóða gumna ‘of the people of men’, which is taken as an attributive to skapara ‘Creator’. — [8] riett (adv.) ‘right’: For this meaning of the adv., see Fritzner: rétt 3. — [8] sem krafði edikið ‘as if he had asked for vinegar’: For the addition of the def. art. for metrical reasons, see Note to 1/6 and NN §1664A. Edik ‘vinegar’ is a loanword from MLG edik ‘vinegar’ (from Lat. acetum ‘vinegar’). See AEW, ONP: edik. Earlier eds translate the cl. as ‘who asked for vinegar’. That translation makes little sense, because all gospels record that Jesus did not ask for the vinegar; rather, it was given to him as part of the torture when he said he was thirsty (see Matt. XXVII.48; Mark XV.36; John XIX.29; see also Sperber 1911, 75). Unless we assume that the poet did not know what vinegar was and thought it was drinkable, the verb krafði ‘asked for’ must be taken as subj. Although krefði would be expected, the <a> is established by the aðalhending with hafða, and perhaps also necessitated by it. Cf. Mar (1871, xvii): Oc her næst mællti minn sæti son Jesus: þyrstir mic. En ivdar gafo hanum edik við galli blandit ‘And after this my sweet son Jesus said: “I thirst.” But the Jews gave him vinegar mixed with gall’.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
  3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
  6. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
  7. Wrightson, Kellinde, ed. 2001. Fourteenth-Century Icelandic Verse on the Virgin Mary: Drápa af Maríugrát, Vitnisvísur af Maríu, Maríuvísur I-III. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series 14. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  8. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  9. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
  10. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
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