Anon Mv I 10^VII

Deildi krakleik köldum
kvinna einu sinni
líns við lærðan kenni
leidd, svá að bæði reidduz.
Prestr varð óðr og æstiz
eymdum lagðr og sagði
þar, sem þjóðir vissu,
þenna glæp eftir henni.

Einu sinni deildi kvinna, leidd köldum krakleik, við {lærðan kenni líns}, svá að bæði reidduz. Prestr varð óðr og æstiz, lagðr eymdum, og sagði þenna glæp eftir henni þar, sem þjóðir vissu.

One time the woman, moved by cold quarrelsomeness, had dealings with {a learned tester of the maniple} [PRIEST], so that both became enraged. The priest became angry and was provoked, stung by misfortunes, and reported her crime there, where people found out about it.

Mss: 721(12v)

Editions: Skj AII, 488, Skj BII, 528, Skald II, 289, NN §§2800, 2864, Metr. §15; Kahle 1898, 33, 97, Sperber 1911, 3, 58, Wrightson 2001, 44.

Notes: [All]: On Metr. in the Editions line, see Introduction to Mv II. — [1] krakleik ‘quarrelsomeness’: This is a hap. leg. and the meaning is conjectural. It could be a cognate to Swed., ODan. krakel from MLG krakēle ‘noise, fight’ (see NN §2864; AEW: krakleikr; cf. also Norw. krakilsk [adj.] ‘bellicose’, krakiler [noun] ‘hot-head’). — [3] líns ‘of the maniple’: Lit. ‘of linen’. This is taken here as a synonym for handlín ‘maniple’ (so also Skj B). A maniple (Lat. manipula) is a strip of cloth worn by priests around the left arm during the service (see Fritzner: handlín). Kock’s attempt (NN §2800) to construe it as a determinant linns ‘of the snake’, which he regards as a synonym for ‘of gold’, is not persuasive. — [6] lagðr ‘stung’: This is the p.p. of the verb leggja in the meaning ‘sting, pierce, hew’. — [7] þar, sem þjóðir vissu ‘there, where people found out about it’: Lit. ‘there, where people found out’. The l. is difficult to make sense of. Þar ‘there’ is an adv. with full stress carrying alliteration and followed by sem ‘where’. The internal rhyme falls on the two syllables þar-sem (assimilation of rs to ss). Skj B emends þar ‘there’ to þat ‘that which’ and tentatively translates the cl. as hvad folk mente at vide (?) ‘that which people thought they knew (?)’, which leaves the l. without internal rhyme. Kock (Skald; NN §2864) emends to þess sem þjóðir vissu ‘as people knew’. Wrightson has ‘although people knew about it already’. All these translations make little sense, because, according to Mar, the woman had confessed the crime to the priest, who later became so enraged that he broke his confidentiality. He reported the crime sva at allir mega heyra ‘so that all are able to hear’ (Mar 1871, 277) or fyrir morgum monnum ‘before many people’ (Mar 1871, 1203). Accordingly, he announced it in a public place where many people, who did not know about the crime, heard about it. — [8] eftir henni: Lit. ‘after her’. The prep. eftir makes the l. too long, and the short form (eft ‘after’) could have been used by the poet.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
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. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
9. Kahle, Bernhard, ed. 1898. Isländische geistliche Dichtungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter.