Anon Mv II 3VII/8 — þess ‘them’
Herra nökkurr hugdýrr
hreinn bygði stað einn;
kæra hans af konum bar
kurteis, sem frá er spurt.
Unnuz þau hun og hann
hjartaliga; vili bjartr
láta ekki má í mót
milli þess, er hvárt vill.
Nökkurr hugdýrr, hreinn herra bygði einn stað; kurteis kæra hans bar af konum, sem er frá spurt. Þau unnuz hjartaliga, hun og hann; bjartr vili milli þess má ekki láta í mót, er hvárt vill.
A certain splendid-minded, pure lord lived in a city; his courteous wife surpassed other women, as is told. They loved each other dearly, she and he; the shining accord between them cannot do anything against that which the other [lit. each one] wants.
readings
notes
[8] milli þess ‘between them’: The phrase is difficult to interpret (see Sperber). We might have expected the pron. to be in the pl. (milli þeira ‘between them’). Þess (n. gen. sg.) lit. ‘of it’ could refer to each member of the couple (cf. hvárt n. nom. sg. ‘the other’, l. 8), and n. is used because of the ‘mixed gender’ (see above). The sense of this last cl. is that there was such affection between them that they never opposed one another’s wishes. For láta í mot lit. ‘oppose’ (l. 7) see Fritzner: láta í mót.