Anon Mv II 1^VII

Dýrðar, gief þú, dóms vörðr,
dróttinn, er alt gott
veitir, að bragarbót,
brögnum, gjaldi hier þögn.
Móður þinnar, minn guð,
megna vil eg jartegn,
segja það, er sæl mey
sætu dugði ágæt.

{Vörðr {dóms dýrðar}}, dróttinn, er veitir brögnum alt gott, gief þú, að gjaldi hier þögn bragarbót. Guð minn, eg vil megna jartegn móður þinnar, segja það, er ágæt, sæl mey dugði sætu.

{Guardian {of the court of glory}} [HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)], Lord, who provides men with everything good, grant that they here give silence to the poetic improvement [lit. poem’s improvement]. My God, I wish to glorify a miracle of your mother, to tell how [lit. to tell about it, that] the magnificent, blessed Virgin helped a woman.

Mss: 713(85), 721(13v)

Readings: [1] Dýrðar: ‘[...]yrdar’ 721    [2] dróttinn: dróttir 721

Editions: Skj AII, 492, Skj BII, 532-3, Skald II, 292, NN §§1693, 3350; Jón Þorkelsson 1888, 41, Kahle 1898, 37, 99, Sperber 1911, 9, 61-2, Wrightson 2001, 55.

Notes: [1-2] vörðr dóms dýrðar, dróttinn ‘guardian of the court of glory [HEAVEN > = God (= Christ)], Lord’: It is also possible to construe these ll. as dróttinn dýrðar, vörðr dóms ‘Lord of glory [= God], guardian of judgement [= God]. — [2] dróttinn ... gott ‘Lord ... good’: The irregular internal rhyme reflects the instability of vowel quantity during this period. For the sake of consistency, the [o:] in dróttinn is treated as long here and elsewhere in the poem. — [3] bragarbót ‘poetic improvement [lit. poem’s improvement]’: This is also the name of a verse-form in SnSt Ht 31^III. That metre is a variant of dróttkvætt in which the alliterating staves in the odd ll. fall in positions one and five and the internal rhymes in positions three and five (see SnE 1999, 17). In the present context it denotes a good poem. — [4] brögnum (m. dat. sg.) ‘men’: Kock (Skald; NN §1693) emends to bragnar (m. nom. pl.) ‘people’ as a subject for gjaldi (3rd pers. pl. pres. subj.) ‘give’. — [5] guð minn ‘my God’: This may refer to Christ rather than God the father, in line with the practice in Vitn, Mv I and Mv III; see Note to Mv I 1/5, 8. — [6] megna ‘glorify’: The verb megna usually means ‘strengthen, increase’, but appears to be used here in the sense of Lat. magnificare ‘praise highly, esteem greatly’ (see NN §3350). Skj B and Wrightson treat the word as the adj. megna (f. acc. sg.) ‘powerful’, which is construed with jartegn (f. acc. sg.) ‘miracle’. That interpretation is less preferable because of the close proximity of the auxiliary vil ‘wish’ and megna (here: inf. ‘glorify’).

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. Sperber, Hans, ed. 1911. Sechs isländische Gedichte legendarischen Inhalts. Uppsala Universitets årsskrift, filosofi, språkvetenskap och historiska vetenskaper 2. Uppsala: Akademische Buchdruckerei Edv. Berling.
6. 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.
7. Jón Þorkelsson [J. Thorkelsson]. 1888. Om digtningen på Island i det 15. og 16. århundrede. Copenhagen: Høst & søns forlag.
8. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. SnE 1999 = Snorri Sturluson. 1999. Edda: Háttatal. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. Rpt. with addenda and corrigenda. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Internal references
11. (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 19 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar’ 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=33> (accessed 19 April 2024)
13. (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 19 April 2024)
14. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríuvísur I 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 679.
15. 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 19 April 2024)
16. Kari Ellen Gade 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Máríuvísur III’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 718-38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1033> (accessed 19 April 2024)
17. 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 19 April 2024)
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 31’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1137.