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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Mdr 6VII/6 — heilagra ‘holy’

Lýtr Máríu mætri
— mátt hennar guð váttar
dýrð — öll … hirðar
hjörð og fólk á jörðu.
Blíð og blessuð móðir
blóm heilagra dóma
— dugir himna guð gumnum —
gjörvallra má kallaz.

Öll hjörð hirðar … og fólk á jörðu lýtr mætri Máríu; guð váttar mátt hennar dýrð. Blíð og blessuð móðir má kallaz blóm gjörvallra heilagra dóma; guð himna dugir gumnum.

The entire flock of the court … [? > ANGELS] and people on earth bow to excellent Mary; God affirms her power [with] glory. The gentle and blessed mother may be called the flower of all holy judgements; the God of the heavens helps men.

notes

[6-8] blóm gjörvallra heilagra dóma ‘the flower of all holy judgements’: A kenning-like periphrasis for the Virgin Mary, comparing her to a flower, and coupling this base-word with an abstract determinant, dómr ‘judgement’. On this type of expression, which probably echoes the Lat. flosculus sanctitatis ‘ornament of holiness’, see Schottmann 1973, 24. Kock (NN §2670) prefers a rather more interpretative translation blomman (kronen) bland alla heligheter ‘the flower (crown) among all holy things’.

grammar

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