Anon Mv III 30VII/6 — diktandi ‘carefully deliberating’
Himiríkis hæst blóm,
hæstum guði ertu næst,
móðir og mey prúð
mildinnar fögr snild.
Máría, legg þú dóm, dýr,
diktandi, á verk slíkt;
tákna, mun eg, lofuð líkn,
linna hier við flokk þinn.
Hæst blóm himiríkis, ertu næst hæstum guði, móðir og prúð mey, fögr snild mildinnar. Dýr Máría, legg þú, diktandi, dóm á slíkt verk; lofuð líkn tákna, eg mun hier linna við flokk þinn.
Highest blossom of the heavenly kingdom, you are next to the highest God, mother and splendid Virgin, fair accomplishment of grace. Precious Mary, pass, carefully deliberating, judgement on such a work; praised mercy of miracles, I shall now end your poem.
notes
[6] diktandi (f. nom. sg., pres. part. of dikta) ‘carefully deliberating’: Sperber (1911, 69) connects this pres. part. with verk (n. acc. sg.) ‘work’ (with a reference to NS §241), which is translated as ‘poetic work’ (so also Skj B). However, the ending -i for n. acc. sg. is unattested (see ANG §435, Anm. 1). As it stands, the pres. part. can modify either Máría (f. nom. sg.) ‘Mary’ (l. 5) or eg ‘I’ (l. 6) as a m. nom. sg. For the different meanings of dikta, see Note to st. 19/8 above. In the present edn, diktandi is taken in the meaning ‘carefully deliberating’ modifying ‘Mary’ (see Fritzner: dikta 4; NN §3370; LP: dikta 1) because that construction is preferable from the point of view of w.o. However, eg, diktandi ‘I, composing’ is also a possible reading. Wrightson takes diktandi with Mary, and translates it as ‘as you dictate’, meaning that Mary is inspiring the poem. For the irregular rhyme -ikt- : -íkt-, see Note to st. 19/8 above.
grammar
mood: indic.
tense: pres.
participle;