Anon Mv III 26^VII

Þerfiliga þaðan af
þakkir gjörði hugrakkr,
meðan endiz líf lunds
linna, við guð sinn.
Og af mönnum mest ann
maðr sjá fyrir dugnað
Máríu, sem vón var,
verkin bætti sjá klerkr.

Þaðan af gjörði hugrakkr þerfiliga þakkir við guð sinn, meðan líf {lunds linna} endiz. Og af mönnum ann sjá maðr Máríu mest fyrir dugnað, sem var vón; sjá klerkr bætti verkin.

From then on the brave-minded one humbly gave thanks to his God while the life {of the tree of snakes} [MAN] lasted. And of all men this man loves Mary the most for her help, as was expected; this cleric mended his ways.

Mss: 721(16v)

Editions: Skj AII, 500, Skj BII, 544, Skald II, 298, NN §2800, Metr. §§11B, 15, 17E; Kahle 1898, 48, Sperber 1911, 21, 69, Wrightson 2001, 79.

Notes: [1] þerfiliga ‘humbly’: This word is otherwise attested only as an adj. þerfiligr ‘necessary, useful’. For the meaning ‘humbly’, see LP: þerfiliga. The l. lacks internal rhyme, and Sperber emends to þrifliga ‘capably’. — [3-4] lunds linna ‘of the tree of snakes’: This kenning is incomplete. Linna ‘of snakes’ needs another determinant, either a defensive weapon (e.g. ‘snakes of the shield’ i.e. ‘swords’) or a word for ‘land, bed, lair’ (e.g. ‘land of the snake’ i.e. ‘gold’). Skj B accordingly emends linna ‘of snakes’ to linnbóls ‘of the snake-lair’. Skald retains the reading linna ‘of snakes’, which is construed as a synonym for ‘gold’ (see NN §2800 and Note to Mv I 10/3). Kálf Kátr 14/3-4, 15/8, 33/2 and 45/7 also have defective gold-kennings.

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.
9. Internal references
10. Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Kálfr Hallsson, Kátrínardrápa 14’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 940-1.
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Máríuvísur I 10’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 686.