Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 15’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1229.
Auðigr þykkir einn sér hvar;
annars rœðir margr of far;
ørgrands erum vér lengst á leit;
lundvær þykkir bezta sveit.
Skammæ þykkja ófin ǫll;
ekki mart er verra en trǫll;
eigi spillir hyggins hjali;
hefkat ek spurt, at …
Einn þykkir sér auðigr hvar; margr rœðir of far annars; vér erum lengst á leit ørgrands; lundvær sveit þykkir bezta. Ǫll ófin þykkja skammæ; ekki mart er verra en trǫll; eigi spillir hjali hyggins; hefkat ek spurt, at …
‘A lone man seems to himself rich everywhere; many a one speaks about the conduct of another; we seek longest after the flawless; peaceable company seems the best. Everything beyond the mean seems short-lived; not much is worse than a troll; nothing spoils the talk of a wise man; I have not heard that … ’
[5]: On this sententia, found in three other Old Norse texts, see Foote (1988).
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.
†A[...]gr þi[...]k[...]† sér einn †hv[...]†;
annars †[...]þ[...]† margr of far;
†avrgrannz† erum vér lengst á leit;
†l[...]ær þick[...]† bezta †[...]†.
†sk[...]† þykkja †[...]† ǫll;
ekki mart er verra en trǫll;
†[...]pillir† hyggins hjali;
hefkat ek spurt, †[...]†
A[...]gr þi[...]k[...] einn hv[...] aɴars [...]þ[...] margr vm far avrgraɴz ervm ver lengz [...] | aleit l[...]ær þick[...] bezta [...] sk[...] þickia [...] avll ecki margt er verra en troll || [...]pillir hyɢins hiali hefkað ek spvrt[...] |
(VEÞ)
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], A. [1]. Málsháttakvæði 15: AII, 133, BII, 141-2, Skald II, 76, NN §3273; Möbius 1874, 7, Wisén 1886-9, I, 75.
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.