Anon Lil 91^VII

Máría, ert þú móðir dýrust;
Máría, lifir þú sæmd í hári;
Máría, ert þú af miskunn kærust;
Máría, liet þú syndafari.
Máría, lít þú mein, þau er vóru,
Máría, lít þú klökk á tárin;
Máría, græð þú mein hin stóru;
Máría, ber þú smyrsl í sárin.

Máría, þú ert dýrust móðir; Máría, þú lifir í hári sæmd; Máría, þú ert kærust af miskunn; Máría, liet þú syndafari. Máría, lít þú mein, þau er vóru; Máría, lít þú klökk á tárin; Máría, græð þú mein hin stóru; Máría, ber þú smyrsl í sárin.

Mary, you are the dearest mother; Mary, you live in high honour; Mary, you are most beloved for your mercy; Mary, halt sinful behaviour. Mary, look at those sins that were; Mary, look tenderly on our tears; Mary, heal the great injuries; Mary, bring balm to our wounds.

Mss: Bb(116va), 99a(18r), 622(39), 713(14), 41 8°ˣ(420), 705ˣ(22r), 4892(39v)

Readings: [1] ert þú (‘ertu’): þú ert 41 8°ˣ;    dýrust: ‘skæuzt’ 622, skírust 713, kærust 41 8°ˣ, skærust 4892    [2] lifir þú: so 99a, 713, 705ˣ, ‘lifdu’ Bb, lófa þú 4892;    sæmd: sætu 4892;    í: om. 4892;    hári: ári 622, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, ‘ou[...]’ 4892    [3] kærust: skærust 713, 41 8°ˣ, 4892    [4] liet þú: ‘leittu’ Bb, lina þú 41 8°ˣ;    syndafari: syndafara 622, syndafarið 4892    [5] lít þú: so 99a, 622, 705ˣ, lýtin Bb, lít þau 713;    mein: so 99a, 622, 713, 705ˣ, mörg Bb, meinum 41 8°ˣ;    þau er: því Bb, þau 99a, 705ˣ, þau að 622, er 713, om. 41 8°ˣ;    vóru: vórum 41 8°ˣ    [6] lít þú: ‘littu’ Bb, 622;    klökk: klöku 41 8°ˣ;    á: blank space 41 8°ˣ    [8] ber: dreif 99a, 41 8°ˣ, 705ˣ, dreyp 622;    þú: nú 99a

Editions: Skj AII, 392, Skj BII, 414, Skald II, 227, NN §3316.

Notes: [All]: This st. is omitted in Vb. The anaphora (each line beginning with Máría) gives it the form of a liturgical litany. There is end-rhyme as well as the normal internal rhyme. — [3] þú ert kærust af miskunn ‘you are most beloved for your mercy’: Cf. the Marian prayer in HómÍsl 1993, 91r: mater allrer miſcunnſeme ‘mother of all mercy’. — [4] syndafari ‘sinful behaviour’: The word also occurs in Stjórn’s account of Sodom and Gomorrah: ok fyrir þi dreckti gud ok saukkti þeim aullum eigi sidr ungum bo᷎rnum ok smápilltum fyrir syndafars sakir sinna feðginna ‘and because of this, God drowned and submerged them all, even young children and small boys, because of the sinful behaviour of their parents’ (Unger 1862, 123). — [5] vóru ‘were’: The word normally occurs with the spelling vá- in this text, but the earlier form is necessary here for the end rhyme with stóru ‘great’ (l. 7). — [6] klökk ‘tender’: Cf. klökkum hug ‘pliable spirit’ 2/3, hold er klökt ‘flesh is weak’ 54/6, and klökkur, hræddr ‘contrite, afraid’ 79/7. The adj. can be construed either with Máría or with tárin. Finnur Jónsson’s translation in Skj B reflects the former possibility, LP the latter. Paasche’s translation construes with Máría (1915, 91), while Páll Hallsson (Holm papp 23 folˣ, 13r), Finnur Jónsson (1772-8, II, 443), Eiríkur Magnússon (1870, 93), and Meissner (1922, 33) all construe klökk with tárin. Kock (NN §3316) argues that this is the only possibility, as it would be unthinkable for the triumphant queen of heaven to look upon the sinner’s tears with dejection. JH, who tends to prefer Finnur Jónsson’s translation, comments that klökk has nothing to do with dejection and that Kock has misconstrued the image.

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. Unger, C. R., ed. 1862. Stjorn. Gammelnorsk bibelhistorie fra verdens skabelse til det babyloniske fangenskab. Christiania (Oslo): Feilberg og Landmarks forlag.
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. Finnur Jónsson [Finnus Iohannaeus]. 1772-8. Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiae. 4 vols. Copenhagen.
8. HómÍsl 1993 = de Leeuw van Weenen, Andrea, ed. 1993. The Icelandic Homily Book: Perg. 15 4° in the Royal Library, Stockholm. Íslensk handrit/Icelandic Manuscripts Series in quarto 3. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi.
9. Meissner, Rudolf, trans. 1922. Die Lilie: Dichtung von Eysteinn Ásgrímsson. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder.
10. Internal references
11. Not published: do not cite ()