Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 141’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 444.
Bölgjörnum manni, ef þér brugðiz hefir,
skaltu eigi grand gera,
þvít af annars gæzku batnar sá iðugliga,
sá er hefir óvinauðigr verit.
Skaltu eigi gera grand bölgjörnum manni, ef hefir brugðiz þér, þvít sá batnar iðugliga af annars gæzku, sá er hefir verit óvinauðigr.
You must not do harm to a malicious man if he has deceived you, because the one who has not been rich in friends frequently improves from another’s kindness.
Mss: 624(147)
Editions: Skj AII, 196, Skj BII, 209, Skald II, 109; Gering 1907, 38, Tuvestrand 1977, 141, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 125-6.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. IV, 41) Damnaris numquam post longum tempus amicum: / mutavit mores, sed pignera prima memento ‘Never condemn a friend of long standing, he has changed his ways, but remember his first merits’. — [6] óvinauðigr ‘not rich in friends’: i.e. without many friends. This word is a hap. leg., possibly modelled on vinsæll / óvinsæll and ‑auðigr compounds (e.g. féauðigr). It could also be construed óvin-auðigr ‘rich in enemies’. Gering and Skj B following him corrects to óvinligr ‘unfriendly’.
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