Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 99’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 419.
Upp at hefja sómir þér eigi vel
meiri iðn, en þú megir;
algers verks, þá er unnit er;
æ spyrr lýðr at lokum.
Sómir þér eigi vel at hefja upp meiri iðn, en þú megir; lýðr spyrr æ at lokum algers verks, þá er unnit er.
‘It does not befit you to start a bigger business than you can manage; people always find out about the results of a completed work when it is finished.’
Lat. parallel: (Dist. III, 14) Quod potes, id tempta: operis ne pondere pressus / succumbat labor, et frustra temptata relinquas ‘Whatever you can, try, lest under the weight of the burden of the task work collapses and you give up that tried in vain’. In 1199ˣ there is additional text which serves as a paraphrase for the st.: uppbyrja sæmir eigi iðju meiri en algert fáir ‘it is not fitting to undertake an activity greater than can be finished’.
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.
Upp ad hefia sömer | þier eigi vel meire idn enn þu meigir algiórs verks þä er unnid er, æ | spir lijdur ad lokum. (uppbýria sæmer ei idiu meire enn algiórt fäer)
(VEÞ)
Upp at hefja
samir þér eigi vel
meiri iðn, en þú megir;
algert verk dugir ,
þá er unnit er;
at spyrr lýðr at lokum.
Vpp at hefia samer | þier eigi vel meiri jdn enn þv meger algiort verk duger þa er vnit er at | spyr lydur at lokvm
(VEÞ)
vpp ad hefia sömer þier ei vel, meire Jdn enn þu | meiger, Algiort verk dugier þä vnnid er, ad spyr ⸝lijdur⸜ || lijdur lokum.
(VEÞ)
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], [C. E/5]. Hugsvinnsmál 99: AII, 187-8, BII, 202, Skald II, 105-6; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 24, Gering 1907, 27, Tuvestrand 1977, 126, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 98.
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