Anon (FoGT) 45^III

Moysen lofar ljósan
lagamál hið brennfagra;
þig lofar alt með öllu
alls heims, jöfurr beima.

Hið brennfagra lagamál lofar ljósan Moysen; alt alls heims lofar þig með öllu, {jöfurr beima}.

Burning fair law-giving praises bright Moses; everything of all the world praises you absolutely, {lord of men} [= God].

Mss: W(119) (FoGT)

Readings: [3] alt: allr W

Editions: Skj AII, 167, Skj BII, 185, Skald II, 96, NN §3165; SnE 1848-87, II, 246-7, III, 163, FoGT 1884, 150, 295, FoGT 2004, 57, 80, 161-2, FoGT 2014, 48-9, 139-42.

Notes: [1] Moysen ‘Moses’: The spelling of the ms. Also possible are Móisen, Moísen, and length on the last syllable (-én, so Skald). Moses the lawgiver is well represented in skaldic verse; cf. Anon Leið 18/2^VII lagavísum Móísi ‘law-wise Moses’ and especially Anon Law 1/5^VII Móyses kunni lögmáls list ‘Moses was skilled in the art of law-giving’. — [2] brennfagra ‘burning fair’: The epithet is a hap. leg. and probably alludes to Exod. XIX.16-20, which describe how God appeared before Moses on Mount Sinai in fire and smoke when he gave him the ten commandments. — [3-4]: Some emendation of these two lines is necessary to achieve grammatical sense. SnE 1848-87, II, 246-7 n. 2 first suggested emending W’s allr (l. 3) to allt, but collocated it as allt beima lit. ‘everything of men’, i.e. ‘all men’, which is unidiomatic. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (FoGT 1884) also adopted the minimal emendation of W’s allr to allt (l. 3), and his construal is followed in this edn. Skj B emends þik to herr (l. 3) and jǫfurr (nom.) to jǫfur (l. 4), reading allr herr beima lofar með ǫllu jǫfur alls heims, which Finnur translates as hele menneskenes skare lovpriser fuldkomment hele verdens konge ‘the whole troop of humans praises completely the king of the whole world’. Kock (NN §3165; Skald) emends þik to þing and allr to allt (l. 3), as well as jǫfurr to jǫfur (l. 4), collocating allt þing beima ‘all the assembly of men’ and jǫfur alls heims ‘the lord of all the world’ (l. 4). FoGT 2004 follows Kock’s emendations.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
7. FoGT 2004 = Longo, Michele, ed. [2004]. ‘Il Quarto Trattato Grammaticale Islandese: Testo, Traduzione e Commento’. Dottorato di Ricerca in ‘Linguistica Sincronica e Diacronica’ (XV Ciclo). Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.
8. FoGT 2014 = Clunies Ross, Margaret and Jonas Wellendorf, eds. 2014. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Internal references
10. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 18’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 156-7.
11. Jonathan Grove (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Lausavísa on Lawgiving 1’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 966.