Anon Mv I 7VII/4 — saklaus ‘innocent’
Hier kom orð, það heyrði
hústrú fríð um síðir;
sig skildi þá sældar
saklaus vera sprakki.
Ráðtæki var ríkrar
raungrætiligt sætu;
kunni hun mág sinn manna
mest álygi vestrar.
Orð kom hier, það fríð hústrú heyrði um síðir; sprakki sældar skildi sig þá vera saklaus. Ráðtæki ríkrar sætu var raungrætiligt; hun kunni mág sinn mest manna vestrar álygi.
The rumour came here, which the fair housewife finally heard; the woman of prosperity then knew herself to be innocent. The remedy of the powerful lady was really deplorable; she blamed her son-in-law most of all men for the worst slander.
notes
[4] saklaus (f. nom. sg.) ‘innocent’: We should have expected the acc. form in the acc. inf. construction skildi sig vera ‘knew herself to be’, but in learned style, nom. may occur (see NS §217c, Anm. 1). Because sprakki ‘lady, woman’ is m., Kock (Skald; NN §3359; so also Wrightson) emends to saklauss (m. nom. sg.). The present edn retains the ms. reading, assuming that the f. form refers to the gender of the woman rather than to the gender of the noun (so also Mv II 12/5). The corresponding place in Mar (1871, 1202) reads as follows: sem hun vissi sik fullkomit saklausa ‘because she knew herself to be completely innocent’. For Lat. parallels, see Schottmann (1973, 363).