Anon Mv II 20VII/7 — fjogur ‘for two’
Tunga má það alls aung
inna í brag sinn,
hvessu móðir míns guðs
mundi heiðra göfugt sprund,
þá er föður hrings hlíð
hreinum færði kvikan svein,
þann er fjörvi fjogur dægr
firðr lá á börum stirðr.
Alls aung tunga má inna það í brag sinn, hvessu móðir guðs míns mundi heiðra göfugt sprund, þá er hlíð hrings færði hreinum föður kvikan svein, þann er lá firðr fjörvi fjogur dægr stirðr á börum.
No tongue at all can express that in its poetry, how the mother of my God [= Mary] could honour a glorious woman, when the slope of the ring [WOMAN] brought to the pure father the living boy, who lay, deprived of life, for two days and nights stiff on the bier.
notes
[7] fjogur dægr (n. acc. pl.) ‘for two days and nights’: Lit. ‘for four periods of twelve hours’. Dægr refers to the period of one night or one day (see Fritzner: dægr), and the mother brought the child to the church on the second day after his death. For the form fjogur (n. acc. pl.) ‘four’, see ANG §448. Skj B and Skald read ‘fjǫgr’, a form that is not clear (Sperber has fjǫgur and Wrightson fjögur).