Kirsten Wolf (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Heilagra meyja drápa 3’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 893-4.
Sjá er prýðilig umfram aðrar
ástvinnandi drottins kvinnur,
þvíað riettlætis sólin settiz;
sjálf þrenningin skein af henni.
Hennar nafn er hverjum manni
hjartaligt fyr miskunn bjarta;
mildliga bergr hun jafnskjótt öllum,
allir senn þótt Máríam kalli.
Sjá er prýðilig umfram aðrar ástvinnandi kvinnur drottins, þvíað sólin riettlætis settiz; þrenningin sjálf skein af henni. Hennar nafn er hjartaligt hverjum manni fyr bjarta miskunn; hun bergr mildliga öllum jafnskjótt, þótt allir kalli Máríam senn.
She is splendid above other charitable women of the Lord, because the sun of justice was established; the Trinity itself shone from her. Her name is dear to every person because of her bright mercy; she graciously saves all people equally fast, even though all might call upon Mary simultaneously.
Mss: 721(8v), 713(23)
Readings: [5] nafn: nöfn 713; er: eru 713 [6] hjartaligt: hjartanlig 713
Editions: Skj AII, 527, Skj BII, 583, Skald II, 321, NN §3389B.
Notes: [3] settiz ‘was established’: Kock’s argument (NN §3389B) that setja is here used in the meaning ‘establish’ or ‘found’ is followed; Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) translates settiz as ‘became’ and renders the phrase þvíað sólin riettlætis settiz ‘because she [Máría] became the sun of justice’. This interpretation is highly unlikely, as the periphrasis sól riettlætis almost certainly translates Lat. sol justiciae both here and in Árni Gd 13/2IV, where it is used of God; cf. also Geisl 4/4 sunna réttlætis ‘sun of justice’ (Lat. sol justitiae), also of God. Here the reference is more plausibly to Christ incarnate in the Virgin. — [5-8]: The cult of the Virgin was extremely popular in Iceland as elsewhere, and is attested by the existence of numerous mss containing versions of her life and miracles (Widding 1961; Widding, Bekker-Nielsen and Shook 1963, 321-4), by a large number of skaldic poems in her honour, as well as by her patronage of twice as many churches as any other saint (Cormack 1994, 126-9). It is worth noting, in the context of her veneration, that each of sts 1-10 mentions the name ‘Mary’ at least once.
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