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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Alpost 4VII/6 — næstri ‘closest by’

Jón fekk ást af hreinum
óþrotnanda drottni;
lærði hann lögmál dýrðar,
ljóst yfir Jésú brjósti.
Hann stóð Krist undir krossi
kæstr Máríe næstri;
hann drakk eitr hjá ýtum
einfaldr með trú hreina.
Gleði Jésús hier inni
Jóns postula minni.

Jón fekk ást af hreinum óþrotnanda drottni; yfir Jésú brjósti lærði hann ljóst lögmál dýrðar. Hann stóð undir krossi Krist, kæstr Máríe næstri; einfaldr drakk hann eitr hjá ýtum með hreina trú. Jésús gleði hier inni minni Jóns postula.

John received love from the pure unfailing Lord; on Jesus’s breast he learned the clear law of glory. He stood under the Cross of Christ, dearest to Mary [who was] closest by; straightforward, he drank poison among men, with pure faith. May Jesus make joyful herein a memorial toast for John the Apostle.

notes

[6] kæstr Máríe næstri ‘dearest to Mary [who was] closest by’: Ms. ‘kærstr’; aðalhending with næstri indicates that assimilation has taken place, cf. ANG §272.3; so Skj B, but Skald retains the ms. reading. Finnur Jónsson translates næstri as if modifying hann, but without proposing emendation to næstr, as if ‘He stood by Christ’s Cross, dearest to him, nearest to Mary’. Such an emendation would produce a hypometrical l. in any case, unless næstr were desyllabified to næst-ur. The passage as it stands may be intended to recall that while on the Cross, Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to John (cf. John XIX.26-7), and it may be with this in mind that the poet describes John as ‘dearest to Mary’. This detail is included in brief martyrological accounts, such as IO 71, 1; cf. Jón1x 414. It is not unlikely, however, that the author was influenced here by iconography, for in Crucifixion scenes John the Apostle is widely represented at the foot of the Cross, supporting a half-fainting Virgin Mary (see Kilström 1956, 174-5; Moltke 1962, 591).

grammar

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