Anon Law 1VII
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.
Lög ‘The law’
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lag (noun n.; °-s; *-): layer; (pl.) law < lǫgmaðr (noun m.): lawyer
maðr ‘man’
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maðr (noun m.): man, person < lǫgmaðr (noun m.): lawyer
skyldi ‘should be’
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
röskr ‘brave’
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rǫskr (adj.): brave
og ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
riettr ‘true’
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3. réttr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): right, straight, direct
riettligr ‘proper’
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réttligr (adj.): [right, proper]
er ‘is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
lög ‘the law’
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lag (noun n.; °-s; *-): layer; (pl.) law < lǫgmaðr (noun m.): lawyer
manns ‘man’s’
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maðr (noun m.): man, person < lǫgmaðr (noun m.): lawyer
stiettr ‘way’
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stéttr (noun m.; °dat. -): order of things; way
sá ‘he’
notes
[3] sá mun þykkja liettr lýðnum ‘he will appear gracious to the people’: I.e. ‘people will consider him gracious’.
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
notes
[3] sá mun þykkja liettr lýðnum ‘he will appear gracious to the people’: I.e. ‘people will consider him gracious’.
þykkja ‘appear’
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2. þykkja (verb): seem, think
notes
[3] sá mun þykkja liettr lýðnum ‘he will appear gracious to the people’: I.e. ‘people will consider him gracious’.
lýðnum ‘to the people’
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lýðr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir): one of the people
notes
[3] sá mun þykkja liettr lýðnum ‘he will appear gracious to the people’: I.e. ‘people will consider him gracious’.
liettr ‘gracious’
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léttr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): easy, light
notes
[3] sá mun þykkja liettr lýðnum ‘he will appear gracious to the people’: I.e. ‘people will consider him gracious’.
er ‘who’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
lögin ‘the law’
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lag (noun n.; °-s; *-): layer; (pl.) law
segir ‘speaks’
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segja (verb): say, tell
þá ‘when’
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2. þá (adv.): then
er ‘’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
hann ‘he’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
er ‘is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
friettr ‘asked’
Móyses ‘Moses’
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Moyses (noun m.): [Moses]
kunni ‘was skilled’
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kunnr (adj.): known (?)
lög ‘of law’
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lag (noun n.; °-s; *-): layer; (pl.) law < lǫgmál (noun n.): law
máls ‘giving’
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1. mál (noun n.; °-s; -): speech, matter < lǫgmál (noun n.): law
list ‘in the art’
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list (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): skill, art, virtue
leingi ‘for a long time’
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lengi (adv.): for a long time
talaði ‘spoke’
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3. tala (verb): speak, talk
hann ‘he’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
við ‘with’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
Krist ‘Christ’
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Kristr (noun m.; °-s/-, dat. -i; -ar): Christ
trautt ‘unwillingly’
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trauðr (adj.): reluctant
fær ‘does’
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2. fá (verb; °fǽr; fekk, fengu; fenginn): get, receive
mann ‘man’
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maðr (noun m.): man, person < mannfolk (noun n.)
fólk ‘kind’
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folk (noun n.): people < mannfolk (noun n.)
laganna ‘the laws’
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lag (noun n.; °-s; *-): layer; (pl.) law
notes
[7] laganna ‘of the laws’: Finnur Jónsson interprets this as a specific reference to the Ten Commandments (Skj B), but the implication of the helmingr seems to be that the Law of Moses – which included a wide range of divine ordinances detailed in Exod. – is the model for the laws of all Christian peoples.
mist ‘lose’
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2. missa (verb): lose, lack
minn ‘may my’
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minn (pron.; °f. mín, n. mitt): my
guð ‘God’
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1. guð (noun m.; °***guðrs, guðis, gus): (Christian) God
fái ‘give’
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2. fá (verb; °fǽr; fekk, fengu; fenginn): get, receive
oss ‘us’
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vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
himna ‘in the heavens’
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himinn (noun m.; °himins, dat. himni; himnar): heaven, sky
vist ‘an abode’
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vist (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): abode, lodging, provisions
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The lawman should be brave and true, that is the lawman’s proper way; he will appear gracious to the people, who speaks the law, when he is asked. Moses was skilled in the art of law-giving, he spoke for a long time with Christ; unwillingly does mankind lose the laws; may my God give us an abode in the heavens.
The poem is inserted as a coda at the end of the Bæjarlǫg of Bergen.
The st. is composed in the hneptr ‘cropped’ form of hrynhent, in which the conventional octosyllabic l. is shortened by one syllable. The stressed monosyllabic cadences in the four ll. of each helmingr are connected by end-rhyme, in the pattern defined by Snorri Sturluson as minni runhent ‘lesser rhyming metre’ (cf. SnSt Ht 90-1III; SnE 1999, 36). — [4]: The initial rel. particle er ‘who’ is extrametrical.
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