Anon Mdr 34VII/5 — eik ‘oak’
Einkannlig mær, mönnum
mest líknar þú flestum;
allra manna í milli
mjúkust ertu sjúkum.
Göfug eik, ger oss mjúka,
greinar lífs, og hreina;
lát oss af greypum glæpum
guði treystandi leysta.
Einkannlig mær, þú líknar mest flestum mönnum; í milli allra manna, ertu mjúkust sjúkum. Göfug eik greinar lífs, ger oss mjúka og hreina; lát oss, treystandi guði, leysta af greypum glæpum.
Unique maiden, you show mercy exceedingly to most people; among all people, you are most gentle to the sick. Noble oak of life [lit. of the branch of life], make us humble and pure; let us, trusting in God, be released from cruel sins.
readings
[5] eik ger: ‘ei[...]du’ B, ‘eik ge ir’ with ‘o’ added above the line in another hand 399a‑bˣ, ‘eik (ger)du’(?) BRydberg, ‘e[...]d du’ BFJ
notes
[5] eik ger oss: Only ‘ei…du’ is now visible in B, the enclitic ‘du’ being removed in normalisation. Rydberg and 399a-bˣ read ‘eik’ with certainty. Jón Sigurðsson, the author of the 444ˣ transcript, is confused by this reading, and tries to make sense of 399a-bˣ’s ‘ge ir’ by suggesting the reconstruction geimir, though it is not clear how this would fit the context. Sveinbjörn Egilsson provides a marginal n. to 444ˣ, suggesting that ‘ge ir’ should be understood to represent ger 2nd pers. sg. pres. of gera ‘to make’, adding a Lat. gloss ‘i.e. fac’ to resolve the confusion. The 399a-bˣ transcript has been corrected by a non-scribal hand, possibly Jón Sigurðsson’s, to reflect this interpretation, which also informs Rydberg’s reading.