Anon Mdr 11^VII

Heil, þú er hjálpar sálum,
heims prýði og líf beima
dýrð himneskrar hirðar
heiðskírt … deilis.
Þú ert makligast miklu
miskunnar ker funnið,
… hjálp og sæla
hrein, með guði einum.

Heil, þú er hjálpar sálum, prýði heims og heiðskírt líf beima, dýrð {deilis … himneskrar hirðar}. Hrein hjálp og … sæla, þú ert funnið miklu makligast ker miskunnar með guði einum.

Hail, you who help souls, world’s adornment and clear life of men, glory {of the provider … of the heavenly court} [= God]. Pure help and … bliss, you are revealed as by far the most deserving vessel of mercy with the one God.

Mss: B(13v), 399a-bˣ

Readings: [2] beima: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘be[...]a’ B    [4] …: ‘[...]’ B, ‘[...]ar’ 399a‑bˣ    [6] miskunnar: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘miskun[...]ar’ B;    funnið: so 399a‑bˣ, ‘f[...]nn[...]t’ B    [7] …: ‘[...]’ B, 399a‑bˣ    [8] með: ‘m[...]’ B, 399a‑bˣ

Editions: Skj AII, 466, Skj BII, 499, Skald II, 272, NN §§1638, 1639; Rydberg 1907, 34, 54, Attwood 1996a, 104, 305.

Notes: [4] heiðskírt ‘clear, unclouded’: Kock (NN §1639) suggests that the cpd be divided heið skírt, with heið being taken as nom. sg. n. ‘the vault of the sky’, qualified by skírt, n. nom. sg. skírr ‘bright, clear, pure’. Skírt heið, which Kock translates rena klarhet ‘pure brightness’ is then interpreted as an epithet for Mary, in apposition to dýrð ‘glory’ (l. 3), prýði ‘embellishment, adornment’ and líf ‘life’ (l. 2). He construes: Heil þú er hjálpar sálum, prýði heims ok líf beima, dýrð himneskrar hirðar [ok] skírt heið friðar beiðis ‘Hail, you who help souls, world’s adornment and life of men, glory of the heavenly court and pure brightness of the one who asks for peace (i.e. God)’. The helmingr structure is thus considerably simplified, and the epithets in ll. 3 and 4, dýrð himneskrar hirðar and heið friðar beiðis, balance one another rather well. However, although heið is a fairly common determinant in heaven-kennings (see, e.g., Líkn 25/2: heiðtjald ‘tent of the vault of heaven’, which probably derives from tjald hyrjar heiðs ‘tent of the fire of the sky’ in Has 14/6-8), it is difficult to understand why Mary should be represented figuratively as God’s ‘heaven’ here. This edn follows Rydberg (1907, 54) in taking heiðskírt as the n. nom. sg. of the adj. heiðskírr ‘clear, unclouded’, which is common in MIcel. The prefix heið- serves as an intensifier here, as in the similar adj. heiðbjartr, which is used of the sun in Geisl 67/8. Heiðskírt must qualify líf (l. 2), making the more convincing Marian epithet heiðskírt líf beima ‘clear, i. e. pure life of men’. The hymn Salve Regina eulogises Mary as vita, dulcedo et spes nostra ‘our life, our sweetness and our hope’, although there is admittedly not a close parallel here. Finnur Jónsson appears to have been in some doubt as to the interpretation of heiðskírt, though he agrees with Rydberg’s assumption that it is a cpd adj. His translation in Skj B makes for a simpler cl. arrangement than Rydberg’s, but requires the emendation of heiðskírt to the f. nom. sg. heiðskír to agree with dýrð (l. 3). He appears to revise his opinion in LP: heiðskírr, where Rydberg’s arrangement heiðskírt líf beima is quoted. — [4] …: Rydberg (1907, 34 n. 6) suggested a reconstruction of the lost word as friðar gen. sg. ‘peace’. This reconstruction has been adopted by Skj and Skald. Although violating the metre, which requires aðalhending with heið-, B’s deilis gen. sg. ‘dealer, provider’, makes perfect sense here. Kock (NN §1638) suggests emendation to beiðis gen. sg. ‘asker’, forming the God-kenning beiðir friðar ‘one who asks for peace’. He quotes the God-kenning friðbeiðir in Pl 39/1 in support of this. Finnur Jónsson follows Rydberg in emending to greiðis gen. sg. of greiðir, m. ‘furtherer, advancer’. — [7] …: It has not been possible to reconstruct the missing word in B. Initial ‘h’ is required for alliteration, and skothending with sæla should be provided. Finnur Jónsson supplies hǫlda gen. pl. ‘of men’, which he takes with sæla, forming the Marian epithet sæla hǫlda ‘bliss of men’ which he takes in apposition to hrein hjálp ‘pure help’; cf. líf beima ‘life of men’ (l. 2). Kock (NN §1639) rightly objects that hǫlda does not rhyme satisfactorily with sæla, and suggests reconstruction to either heilug or hálig ‘holy’, which he construes with hrein hjálp ok sæla ‘holy pure help and bliss’.

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. Attwood, Katrina. 1996a. ‘The Poems of MS AM 757a 4to: An Edition and Contextual Study’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leeds.
7. Rydberg, Hugo, ed. 1907. ‘Die geistlichen Drápur und Dróttkvættfragmente des Cod. AM 757 4to.’. Ph.D. thesis. University of Lund. Copenhagen: Møller.
8. Internal references
9. George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 25’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 255-6.
10. Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Plácitusdrápa 39’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 205.
11. Martin Chase (ed.) 2007, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Geisli 67’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 61-2.
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 14’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 86-7.