Anon Leið 19VII/4 — Móises ‘Moses’
Tunglbryggju gaf tyggi
tíu orð laga forðum
— fríðr af fǫstu mœðisk —
fjǫlhress goðs vin Móises,
ok þrekprúðum þjóðar
þann veg yfirmanni
várr dróttinn lét veittan
víðkunnan dag sunnu.
Fjǫlhress tyggi tunglbryggju gaf forðum Móises, goðs vin, tíu orð laga — fríðr mœðisk af fǫstu —, ok dróttinn várr lét veittan þrekprúðum yfirmanni þjóðar þann víðkunnan veg sunnu dag.
The very hearty king of the moon-pier [SKY/HEAVEN > = God] once gave Moses, God’s friend, ten words of law — the handsome one grows weary from fasting —, and our Lord let the strength-magnificent overseer of the people [RULER = Moses] be granted that widely-known honour on a Sunday.
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’.