Anon Mdr 11VII/7 — … ‘…’
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.
readings
notes
[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’.