Anon Mv I 2^VII

Ástvin guðs inn æsti,
Andréas, bið eg, að standi,
nefndr, með nógleiks orðum
nafn þitt hjá mier jafnan,
svá að sælli meyju,
sætt hreinlífið, mætti
inna jartegn sanna
áhlýðandi lýðum.

Inn æsti ástvin guðs, nefndr Andréas, eg bið að nafn þitt standi jafnan hjá mier með orðum nógleiks, svá að, sætt hreinlífið, mætti inna lýðum sanna jartegn sælli meyju áhlýðandi.

Noblest bosom-friend of God, named Andrew, I ask that your name always stand by me with words of abundance, so that, sweet virtuousness, I could tell people about a true miracle while the blessed Virgin is listening.

Mss: 721(12v)

Editions: Skj AII, 487, Skj BII, 526, Skald II, 288, NN §1679; Kahle 1898, 31, 97, Sperber 1911, 1, 56, Wrightson 2001, 40.

Notes: [1] ástvin (m. nom. sg.) ‘bosom-friend’: For the loss of the nom. sg. ending -r in this word, see ANG §388, Anm. — [2] Andréas ‘Andrew’: For the apostrophe to S. Andrew, see Introduction above and Introduction to Vitn. — [3]: The l. lacks internal rhyme. — [5-8]: The second helmingr is difficult, and various interpretations and emendations have been suggested. — [5, 8] sælli meyju áhlýðandi ‘while the blessed Virgin is listening’: This is an absolute dat. (see NS §120). Kock (Skald; NN §1679) retains the dat. (sælli meyju ‘blessed Virgin’), but connects it with the verb inna ‘relate’ (l. 7) and translates it as åt den heliga jungfrun ‘in honour of the blessed Virgin’. This construction is unclear. Wrightson (2001) also retains the dat., but connects it with sanna jartegn ‘a true miracle’ (l. 7) (‘a true miracle performed by the blessed Virgin’). Skj B emends to sællar meyjar ‘of the blessed Virgin’ (l. 5) and also connects it with sanna jartegn ‘a true miracle’ (l. 7) (‘a true miracle of the blessed Virgin’). Earlier eds treat áhlýðandi lýðum (l. 8) as one nominal phrase, and Skj B translates it as i folks påhør ‘in the hearing, presence of people’. Wrightson has ‘to attentive people’. LP: áhlýðandi gives the construction as an absolute dat. with lýðum ‘while people are listening’. However, in OIcel. the -i ending in dat. pl. is late and rare (see ANG §435, Anm. 1). — [6] sætt hreinlífið ‘sweet virtuousness’: This nominal phrase is either nom. or acc. In the present edn, it is treated as a form of address, referring back to S. Andrew in the previous helmingr (see NN §1679; Sperber 1911, 56). Skj B takes it as an embedded cl. with a suppressed verb ‘to be’ referring to the Virgin: hun er den søde kyskhed selv ‘she is blessed virtuousness itself’.

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. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
8. 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.
9. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
10. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=47> (accessed 26 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Vitnisvísur af Máríu’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 739-57. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1047> (accessed 26 April 2024)