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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Leið 19^VII

Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 19’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 157-8.

Anonymous Poems Leiðarvísan

Tungl ‘of the moon’

(not checked:)
tungl (noun n.; °-s; -): moon, heavenly body < tunglbryggja (noun f.)

kennings

Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju
‘The very hearty king of the moon-pier ’
= God
the moon-pier → SKY/HEAVEN
The very hearty king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

Tungl ‘of the moon’

(not checked:)
tungl (noun n.; °-s; -): moon, heavenly body < tunglbryggja (noun f.)

kennings

Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju
‘The very hearty king of the moon-pier ’
= God
the moon-pier → SKY/HEAVEN
The very hearty king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

bryggju ‘pier’

(not checked:)
1. bryggja (noun f.; °-u; -ur, gen. bryggna): landing, bridge, gangway, quay < tunglbryggja (noun f.)

kennings

Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju
‘The very hearty king of the moon-pier ’
= God
the moon-pier → SKY/HEAVEN
The very hearty king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

bryggju ‘pier’

(not checked:)
1. bryggja (noun f.; °-u; -ur, gen. bryggna): landing, bridge, gangway, quay < tunglbryggja (noun f.)

kennings

Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju
‘The very hearty king of the moon-pier ’
= God
the moon-pier → SKY/HEAVEN
The very hearty king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

gaf ‘gave’

(not checked:)
gefa (verb): give

tyggi ‘king’

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tyggi (noun m.): prince, sovereign

kennings

Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju
‘The very hearty king of the moon-pier ’
= God
the moon-pier → SKY/HEAVEN
The very hearty king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

tíu ‘ten’

(not checked:)
tíu (num. cardinal): ten

orð ‘words’

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orð (noun n.; °-s; -): word

laga ‘of law’

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lag (noun n.; °-s; *-): layer; (pl.) law

forðum ‘once’

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forðum (adv.): formerly, once

fríðr ‘the handsome one’

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fríðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): beautiful, fair

af ‘from’

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af (prep.): from

fǫstu ‘fasting’

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1. fasta (noun f.): fast, fasting

mœðisk ‘grows weary’

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2. mœða (verb): weary

fjǫl ‘The very’

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2. fjǫl (noun n.): very < fjǫlhress (adj.)

kennings

Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju
‘The very hearty king of the moon-pier ’
= God
the moon-pier → SKY/HEAVEN
The very hearty king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

hress ‘hearty’

(not checked:)
hress (adj.; °superl. -astr): hearty < fjǫlhress (adj.)

kennings

Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju
‘The very hearty king of the moon-pier ’
= God
the moon-pier → SKY/HEAVEN
The very hearty king of the SKY/HEAVEN → God

goðs ‘God’s’

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1. guð (noun m.; °***guðrs, guðis, gus): (Christian) God

vin ‘friend’

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vinr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -/(-i OsvReyk 92.17); -ir): friend

Móises ‘Moses’

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Moyses (noun m.): [Moses]

notes

[4] Móises ‘Moses’: The name must here be disyllabic, as a third syllable, such as we have in 18/2, would render the l. hypermetrical. Kock (NN §3250 and Skald) emends to Móísi, which makes the l. too long. Like OE, ON adopted the Hebrew diphthong (cf. Lat. Mōȳsēs; Goth. and Gk Mōsēs). It is very difficult to ascertain stress and length, which seem to vary according to metrical environment. In Hebrew, the first element of the diphthong is long, but the tokens seem to indicate that internal rhyme could be on both elements of the diphthong, which could be rendered ói or óí (cf. Lat. ōȳ). It could well be that, in its disyllabic form, the name was pronounced ‘Mojses’.

ok ‘and’

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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

þrek ‘the strength’

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þrek (noun n.): courage, strength < þrekprúðr (adj.)

kennings

þrekprúðum yfirmanni þjóðar
‘the strength-magnificent overseer of the people ’
= RULER = Moses
the strength-magnificent overseer of the people → RULER = Moses

prúðum ‘magnificent’

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prúðr (adj.; °superl. -astr): magnificent, proud < þrekprúðr (adj.)

kennings

þrekprúðum yfirmanni þjóðar
‘the strength-magnificent overseer of the people ’
= RULER = Moses
the strength-magnificent overseer of the people → RULER = Moses

þjóðar ‘of the people’

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þjóð (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -/-u; -ir): people

[5] þjóðar: so 624, ‘þ[...]ar’ B

kennings

þrekprúðum yfirmanni þjóðar
‘the strength-magnificent overseer of the people ’
= RULER = Moses
the strength-magnificent overseer of the people → RULER = Moses

þann ‘that’

(not checked:)
1. sá (pron.; °gen. þess, dat. þeim, acc. þann; f. sú, gen. þeirrar, acc. þá; n. þat, dat. því; pl. m. þeir, f. þǽ---): that (one), those

veg ‘honour’

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2. vegr (noun m.; °-s/-ar, dat. -): honour

yfirmanni ‘overseer’

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yfirmaðr (noun m.): superior

kennings

þrekprúðum yfirmanni þjóðar
‘the strength-magnificent overseer of the people ’
= RULER = Moses
the strength-magnificent overseer of the people → RULER = Moses

várr ‘our’

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várr (pron.; °f. ór/vár; pl. órir/várir): our

dróttinn ‘Lord’

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dróttinn (noun m.; °dróttins, dat. dróttni (drottini [$1049$]); dróttnar): lord, master

lét ‘let’

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láta (verb): let, have sth done

veittan ‘granted’

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2. veita (verb): grant, give

víð ‘widely’

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víðr (adj.): far < víðkunnr (adj.)

kunnan ‘known’

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kunnr (adj.): known (?) < víðkunnr (adj.)

dag ‘day’

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dagr (noun m.; °-s, dat. degi/dag/dagi(Thom¹ 332¹n.); -ar): day

sunnu ‘on a Sun’

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sunna (noun f.): sun

Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

verse
prose

Moses’s receipt of the Ten Commandments (tíu orð laga, l. 2) is documented in Exod. XX.3-17. Although no fast (l. 3) is mentioned at this point in the biblical narrative, Moses is later (Exod. XXXIV.28) said to have spent forty days and nights in conversation with God on Mt Sinai and to have fasted there: fecit ergo ibi cum Domino quadraginta dies et quadraginta noctes panem non comedit et aquam non bibit et scripsit in tabulis verba foederis decem ‘and he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant’. — [3-4]: Skj B emends vin (dat. sg.) ‘friend’ (l. 4), to the nom. form vinr, and takes the resulting kenning goðs vinr ‘God’s friend’ as part of the intercalary cl., modified by fríðr (l. 3). In this, he is followed by Kock (NN §§1263, 2559), who also takes fjǫlvíss ‘very wise’ (l. 4) (on the emendation, see following Note) as in apposition to fríðr ‘handsome’. This gives fríðr fjǫlhress vinr goðs mœðisk af fǫstu ‘the fair, very wise friend of God grows weary from fasting’. However, it is not necessary to emend vin, if it is taken, as the w.o. suggests, with Móises (l. 4).

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