Anon Mv I 23^VII

Máttr var móður dróttins
mjög ríkr um frú slíka
sýndr með sætleik reyndum
sveit í loganum heita.
Þann gaf þessi kvinnu
þrótt óskamey dróttins;
hosk sat Bil í báli
baugstalls um dag allan.

Mjög ríkr máttr {móður dróttins} var sýndr sveit með reyndum sætleik um slíka frú í loganum heita. {Óskamey dróttins} gaf þann þrótt þessi kvinnu; {hosk Bil {baugstalls}} sat í báli um allan dag.

The very mighty power {of the mother of the Lord} [= Mary] was revealed to the crowd with proven kindness concerning that lady in the hot flame. {The wish-maiden of the Lord} [= Mary] gave that fortitude to this woman; {the wise Bil <goddess> {of the ring-seat}} [ARM > WOMAN] remained in the fire all day.

Mss: 721(13r)

Readings: [7] Bil: brúðr 721;    báli: om. 721

Editions: Skj AII, 490-1, Skj BII, 531, Skald II, 291, NN §2867; Kahle 1898, 36, 98, Sperber 1911, 6, 60, Wrightson 2001, 51.

Notes: [6] óskamey dróttins ‘the wish-maiden of the Lord [= Mary]’: For terms of this type, see Schottmann (1973, 95). — [7, 8] Bil baugstalls ‘the Bil <goddess> of the ring-seat [ARM > WOMAN]’: This emendation is conjectural. Baugstalls ‘of the ring-seat’ (i.e. ‘of the arm’) is clearly a determinant in a kenning for woman (see Meissner 420). However, brúðr ‘woman’ (so 721) cannot function as a base-word in such a kenning. Skj B emends to brú ‘bridge’ and reads brú baugstalls ‘the bridge of the ring-seat’ (i.e. ‘woman’), but brú ‘bridge’ is unattested as a base-word in a kenning for woman (see LP: brú). Bil, on the other hand, is a common base-word in such kennings (see LP: Bil) and in keeping with the other woman-kennings in Mv I (see also st. 14/6: auðar-Bil ‘wealth-Bil’ i.e. ‘woman’). — [7] í báli ‘in the fire’: The noun is missing in 721 and must be supplied from the context. Skj B suggests í báli ‘in the fire’, which is supported by the parallel construction in st. 19/7-8 above: sat í báli miðju ‘sat in the middle of the fire’. The present emendations to Bil and í báli ‘in the bonfire’ have the advantage of restoring the missing internal rhymes. Kock (Skald; NN §2867) assumes that the alliteration in ll. 7-8 is on the letter h- (hosk ‘wise’) rather than on b- (alleged scribal confusion between <b> and <h>) and he restores the ll. as follows: hosk sat brúðr í háska | haukstalds um dag allan ‘the wise bride of the warrior sat in danger all day’.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. 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.
7. Schottmann, Hans. 1973. Die isländische Mariendichtung. Untersuchungen zur volkssprachigen Mariendichtung des Mittelalters. Münchner germanistische Beiträge 9. Munich: Fink.
8. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
9. 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.
10. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Óláfs saga helga (Legendary)’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=31> (accessed 26 April 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Máríuvísur I’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 678-700. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1031> (accessed 26 April 2024)