Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 143’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 445.
Miskunnsamr skaltu við menn vera,
ef þú átt þræla þér,
þvít jarðligt eðli hygg ek jafnt hafa
þý sem þjóðans mögr.
Skaltu vera miskunnsamr við menn, ef þú átt þér þræla, þvít ek hygg þý hafa jafnt jarðligt eðli sem þjóðans mögr.
‘You must be merciful with men if you own slaves, because I think a bondwoman has the same earthly nature as the kinsman of a prince.’
Lat. parallel: (Dist. IV, 44) Cum servos fueris proprios mercatus in usus / et famulos dicas, homines tamen esse memento ‘When you have bought your own slaves for your use, and you call them servants, remember they are still men’. — [4-6]: 624 reads quite differently here: jarðligt minztu, | at jafnt hefir | þræll ok þjóðans mögr (minztu, at þræll ok þjóðans mögr hefir jafnt jarðligt [eðli] ‘remember that a slave and a ruler’s kinsman have the same earthly [nature]’).
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Miskunnsamr
skaltu við menn vera,
ef þú átt þræla þér,
þvít jarðligs eðli
hygg ek jafnt hafa
þý sem þjóðkóngs mögr.
Mysk | unsamur skalltu vid menn vera, ef þu ätt þræla þier. þui Jardlegs edli higg | eg jafnt hafa, þý, sem þiödkongs mo᷎gur.
(VEÞ)
Miskunnsamr
skaltu við mann vera,
ef þú átt þræla þér,
jarðligt
minztu jafnt hefir
þræll ok þjóðans mögr.
Myskun samur sk[al]tv vid mann verꜳ ef þv att þræla þier jardlegd minstu | at jafnt hefer þræll ok þiodans mogur ·
(VEÞ)
Myskunsamur skaltu vid mann vera, ef þu ätt þr | æla þier, Jardlegd minnstu ad Jafnt hefur, þræll ⸝og þiöd⸜ || og þiödans møgur.
(VEÞ)
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], [C. E/5]. Hugsvinnsmál 143: AII, 196, BII, 209, Skald II, 110; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 33, Konráð Gíslason 1860, 552, Gering 1907, 39, Tuvestrand 1977, 149, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 127.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.