Anon Mgr 43^VII

‘Fystan tel eg þann fögnuð hæstan;
fann eingill mig sólar þeingils;
hann sendi mier helgan anda
háleitan með gleði og teiti.
Glöddumz eg, þá er skaparinn skrýddi
skýfoldar sig mínu holdi,
meistari alls fyrir mínu brjósti,
mær var eg guðs, svá að hvern dag bærðiz.

‘Fystan tel eg þann hæstan fögnuð; eingill {þeingils sólar} fann mig; hann sendi mier háleitan helgan anda með gleði og teiti. Eg glöddumz, þá er {skaparinn {skýfoldar}} skrýddi sig holdi mínu, svá að {meistari alls} bærðiz hvern dag fyrir brjósti mínu; eg var mær guðs.

‘As the first I count that highest joy; the angel {of the lord of the sun} [= God] visited me; he sent me the sublime Holy Spirit with joy and cheer. I became glad, when {the creator {of the cloud-land}} [SKY/HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)] adorned himself in my flesh, so that {the master of the universe} [= God (= Christ)] stirred each day beneath my breast; I was the Virgin of God.

Mss: 713(128)

Readings: [8] bærðiz: hræddumz 713

Editions: Skj AII, 481, Skj BII, 517, Skald II, 283, NN §2694; Kahle 1898, 64, Sperber 1911, 40, 76, Wrightson 2001, 22.

Notes: [7] alls ‘of the universe’: For this meaning of allr lit. ‘everything’, see LP: allr 2. — [7] fyrir mínu brjósti ‘below my breast’: I.e. ‘in my womb’. — [7] fyrir ‘below’: For this meaning of the prep., see Fritzner: fyrir 4. — [8] bærðiz ‘[he] stirred, moved’: An emendation proposed by Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) for 713’s hræddumz ‘I feared’, which leaves the l. without internal rhyme and with an illicit double h- alliteration. Bærðiz is taken with meistari alls ‘the master of the universe’ (l. 7). Skald supplies hrærðumz ‘I moved’, implying that Mary felt the motion of the unborn child (see NN §2694; Sperber 1911, 76).

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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
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. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.