Gripla - 20.12.2013, Blaðsíða 60

GRIPLA60
three of Absalon’s Sermones festivales, Migne’s sermons 20–22, are
designated for the feast of the Annunciation. the last of these is the
source of most of the surviving portion of the old norse Annunciation
homily that is now item 11 of AM 655 XXVII 4to. the part of the norse
homily now extant in this manuscript draws selectively from the first part
of Sermo festivalis 22, which is an exposition of the words “Ave Maria gra-
tia plena, dominus tecum.” Absalon’s sermon does not continue up to the
last words of the angel’s greeting, “benedicta tu in mulieribus.” the final
part of the old norse homily, however, does discuss this phrase, and its
author seems to have moved on to a different text for his explanation of
it. this second source may have been a sermon by Peter Chrysologus (see
section i, below), but unfortunately the homily ends imperfectly before
providing enough evidence for a conclusive comparison.
In the table below I give the full text of the surviving portion of the
old norse Annunciation homily from AM 655 XXVII 4to in parallel with
selections from the Latin sermon of Absalon of springiersbach.53 I have di-
vided both into nine sections, a through i, in order to facilitate comparison,
and I have rearranged the order of several excerpts from the latter so that
they line up more precisely with the old norse sentences which depend
on them. despite the Icelandic author’s freedom with his source material,
however, his dependence on Absalon’s sermon is clear. Any necessary com-
ments are given as footnotes.
AM 655 XXVII 4to Annunciation
Homily
Annunciacio Sancte Marie
(a) <A>ve Maria gratia plena Do-
minus tecum. þrennar kveðjur hitt-
ask í helgum guðspjǫllum: sjálfs
krists við postola eptir (...)54;
engils við mariam55; Mariae við
53 All citations of item 11 are from Hallgrímur Ámundason, “AM 655 XXVII 4to,” “útgáfa,”
14–16.
54 there is no gap in the manuscript, but it seems likely from the phrasing of the passage that
some words, perhaps “upprisu hans,” have dropped out.
55 Wherever Mary’s name retains its Latin declension in the manuscript, I keep the Latin form.
Where the name is declined as an old norse noun, I retain and normalize the old norse
form. except in Latin quotations, I consider the nominative form in –a to be old norse.
Absalon of springiersbach
– Sermo Festivalis 22, “In ann-
unciatione beatae Mariae”
(a) [t]res salutationes celebres in
evangelica serie invenimus. salutat
enim Christus discipulos suos
cum dicit: Pax vobis (Luke 24:36).
salutat angelus Mariam cum di-