Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1996, Síða 144
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decreasing in his immutable nature, so Christ is raised above mankind
through his miraculous birth by the Virgin Mary, yet nothing is changed
in his nature both human and divine.
If we consider the Icelandic rendering of the Latin text it is obvious,
however, that the difficulties met by the Icelanders in the correct inter-
pretation of the verse as well as the ingenious explanation of our author
are based on a misunderstanding. Contrary to the many patristic com-
ments on the hymn, where the Latin verb magnificare is always correct-
ly understood as a synonym of glorificare, adorare (to glorify, to
adore), the Old Norse writer, exactly like the many careless Icelanders
he reproaches, understands the verb literally as magnum facere (to ntag-
nify, to make bigger).
A tendency towards a literal interpretation of the abstract topics re-
ferred to in the saga is perhaps the most evident fault in the work, where
many beliefs and concepts are forced into the narrow experience of
everyday life, thus often belying the true sense of the sources. The mod-
ern reader should never forget, however, that our author had given him-
self the difficult task of adapting to the cultural environment of his
country and his time the philosophical and theological material de-
veloped and handed down through centuries of Latin Christianity.
Exactly this process of adaptation is, in my opinion, the most inter-
esting aspect of the Icelandic Vita of Mary. The often inaccurate render-
ing of a Latin term, the use of only one Icelandic word to translate two
different ideas, one belonging to the natural the other to the supernatu-
ral sphere (hugr - heart, thought, soul; fagnadr = joy, bliss), the com-
plexity of the hypotaxis in the exegetic comments supplied by the au-
thor as opposed to the parataxis in the narrative sections, all this betrays
the effort to create an accurate language capable of expressing concepts
not always easily accessible to the Icelandic writer, and presumably
even less so to his audience. It is precisely in these rifts, where the work
lacks self-conviction, that the true Icelandic author reveals himself,
where his fears, doubts and uncertainties break through the surface of
his learning.