Anon Mv I 29VII/6 — kunnum ‘are able’
Nú hefi eg út fyrir ýtum
— intag svá, að minti —
inta jartegn eina
alhróðigs guðs móður.
Veittu, Máría, meiri
miskunn, en vier kunnum
oss, þá er andir missum,
iðröndum guð biðja.
Nú hefi eg inta eina jartegn móður alhróðigs guðs út fyrir ýtum; intag svá, að minti. Máría, veittu meiri miskunn, en vier kunnum biðja guð oss iðröndum, þá er missum andir.
Now I have told one miracle of the mother of all-glorious God [= Mary] to the end before the people; I composed it thus, so that it should be remembered. Mary, grant more mercy than we are able to ask God for us penitents, when we give up our spirits.
notes
[6, 8] kunnum biðja ‘are able to ask for’: The inf. biðja ‘ask for’ (l. 8) is connected with the modal auxiliary kunnum (1st pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘are able to’ (l. 6). Earlier eds read kunnim (1st pers pl. pres. subj.) ‘will be able to’, but both mss have the indic. form kunnum. Biðjum (1st pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘we ask’ (so 721) is ungrammatical. Wrightson tries to avoid emendation by construing the last two words of l. 8 as a separate cl.: Guð biðjum ‘let us pray to God’, but that interpretation is very strained.
grammar
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
| eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
| indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- | ||