Anon Mv II 10^VII

Mjúkust heyrði mál slík
Máría og fögr tár;
kæran varð kynstór
kviðuð eftir lands sið.
Fæðingar á frumtíð
fögr bar sinn mög;
gjörðiz þá gullskorð
gleðitími kominn með.

Mjúkust Máría heyrði slík mál og fögr tár; kynstór kæran varð kviðuð eftir sið lands. Á frumtíð fæðingar bar fögr mög sinn; þá gjörðiz {gullskorð} gleðitími kominn með.

Most merciful Mary heard such pleas and fair tears; the high-born wife became pregnant according to the custom of the country. At the due time of birth the fair one bore her son; then the time of joy had arrived thereby {for the gold-prop} [WOMAN].

Mss: 713(86), 721(13v)

Readings: [1] heyrði: heyrðu 721

Editions: Skj AII, 493, Skj BII, 535, Skald II, 293, NN §§1695, 2247D; Kahle 1898, 39, 99, Sperber 1911, 11, 63, Wrightson 2001, 59.

Notes: [4] kviðuð eftir sið lands ‘pregnant according to the custom of the country’: This must refer to the fact that the woman became pregnant by her husband and not by immaculate conception. According to ON tradition, Mary herself was not born as the result of immaculate conception. Cf. Mar (1871, 6): Ok var þat barn getit með hinni gömlu synd sem hvert annat, þat er af karlmanni ok konu gezt ‘And that child was conceived with the old sin just like every other [child] that issues from a man and a woman’. For a discussion of the controversy surrounding the conception of Mary, see Wolf 2001, xvi-xix, xxii. — [5] á frumtíð fæðingar ‘at the due time of birth’: Lit. ‘at the first-time of birth’. This is a hap. leg. the meaning of which is not clear. It could refer to the birth taking place at once after nine months (so LP: fæðing), or ‘in the first hour of giving birth’ (so Wrightson). — [7] gullskorð (f. dat. sg.) ‘gold-prop [WOMAN]’: Skj B and Wrightson take this as the subject of the first cl. of the helmingr, which is less preferable from the point of view of w.o. (see NN §§1695, 2247D). Skorð ‘prop’ was a wooden prop used to support ships on the beach.

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. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.