Anon Mhkv 26III
Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 26’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1239.
Þrýtra ‘withdraws’
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þrjóta (verb; str. 2; þrýtr, þraut, þrutu, þrotinn): end, fail
er ‘who’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
verr ‘the worse case’
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verri (adj. comp.): worse, worst
hefr ‘has’
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hafa (verb): have
valt ‘never’
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vallt (adv.): [never, always]
notes
[1] valt ‘never’: Lit. ‘always’ (with negated verb). A variant form of ávalt (see Note to st. 13/8). Cf. Sverris saga (Sv ch. 165, ÍF 30, 259): seint þrýtr þann er verr hefir ‘he who has the worse case is slow to withdraw’.
verða ‘gets’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
notes
[2] kann verða halt á ýmsa ‘first one, then another gets the short stick’: Lit. ‘it can become damaging to various ones’ (see Heggstad et al. 2008: 1. hallr).
kann ‘’
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kunna (verb): know, can, be able
notes
[2] kann verða halt á ýmsa ‘first one, then another gets the short stick’: Lit. ‘it can become damaging to various ones’ (see Heggstad et al. 2008: 1. hallr).
á ‘’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
notes
[2] kann verða halt á ýmsa ‘first one, then another gets the short stick’: Lit. ‘it can become damaging to various ones’ (see Heggstad et al. 2008: 1. hallr).
ýmsa ‘first one, then another’
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ýmiss (adj.): various, alternate
notes
[2] kann verða halt á ýmsa ‘first one, then another gets the short stick’: Lit. ‘it can become damaging to various ones’ (see Heggstad et al. 2008: 1. hallr).
halt ‘the short stick’
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haltr (adj.): [short stick]
notes
[2] kann verða halt á ýmsa ‘first one, then another gets the short stick’: Lit. ‘it can become damaging to various ones’ (see Heggstad et al. 2008: 1. hallr).
misjafnir ‘unequal’
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misjafn (adj.): [unequal]
ró ‘are’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[3, 8] ’ró ‘are’: See Note to st. 20/1.
blinds ‘of a blind’
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blindr (adj.; °compar. -ari): blind
manns ‘man’
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maðr (noun m.): man, person
bitar ‘the mouthfuls’
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biti (noun m.; °-a; -ar): mouthful, bite
bǫlit ‘grief’
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bǫl (noun n.; °-s, dat. bǫlvi): evil
notes
[4] bǫlit (n.) ‘grief’: Cf. Hallbj Lv 1/6IV bǫl gervir mik fǫlvan ‘grief makes me pale’.
kǫllum ‘declare’
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kalla (verb): call
vér ‘we’
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vér (pron.; °gen. vár, dat./acc. oss): we, us, our
ilt ‘bad’
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illr (adj.): bad, evil, unwell
til ‘for’
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til (prep.): to
litar ‘the complexion’
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1. litr (noun m.; °-ar dat. -/-i; -ir, acc. litu/hlyti(Eluc675(1989) 91¹)): colour, appearance
Eik ‘An oak’
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eik (noun f.; °eikr/eikar; eikr): oak
hefr ‘has’
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hafa (verb): have
er ‘’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
af ‘from’
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af (prep.): from
ǫðrum ‘others’
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1. annarr (pron.; °f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir): (an)other, second
skefr ‘is scraped’
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skafa (verb): plane, smoothe
notes
[5] skefr ‘is scraped’: See st. 8/7 above. The adage seems originally to have meant something like one man’s good luck is inadvertently another’s misfortune. The author of Grettis saga apparently took the proverb in a more aggressive sense: ‘an oak has what it strips from another [oak]’.
ekki ‘not’
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2. ekki (adv.): not
mart ‘much’
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2. margr (adj.; °-an): many
er ‘is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
slœgra ‘slyer’
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2. slœgr (adj.): skilful
en ‘than’
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4. en (conj.): than
refr ‘a fox’
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refr (noun m.; °-s; -ar): fox
jafnan ‘always’
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jafnan (adv.): always
verðr ‘happens’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
at ‘that’
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4. at (conj.): that
áflóð ‘a torrent’
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áflóð (noun n.): [a torrent]
notes
[7] áflóð ‘a torrent’: Wisén (1886-9, I) following Möbius (1874, 62) emended this hap. leg. to árflóð ‘river’.
stakar ‘causes upheavals’
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4. staka (verb): [causes upheavals]
notes
[7] stakar ‘causes upheavals’: Lit. ‘shoves, bumps, jolts’ (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of the weak verb staka); cf. Skj B vælter (ting) omkuld ‘topples (things)’.
auðfengnar ‘easily brought’
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auðfenginn (adj.; °compar. ·fengnari): [easily brought]
ró ‘are’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
gelti ‘against a hog’
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gǫltr (noun m.): boar, hog
[8] gelti: ‘gelti’ or ‘gesti’ R, ‘gelti’ RFJ, ‘gellti’ RSkj, ‘gelti’ RJS
notes
[8] gelti (dat. sg.) ‘a hog’: The final words of the stanza, ‘ero gesti [or ‘gelti’] sakar’, are written in the right margin of the ms. Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir reads gesti (gestr ‘guest’); the two earlier transcripts (RFJ and RJS), gelti. The scribe of R most often spells gǫltr with two l’s (‘golltr’) but twice (fol. 28r, l. 7 and fol. 33r, l. 16) with one. The idiom is at fá e-m sǫk/sakar ‘to find cause against sby’. The present edn has opted for gǫltr (dat. sg. gelti), because the dat. sg. of gestr, a m. i-stem, would be gest (and not gesti). The underlying wit is that if you want to slaughter your household pigs, the animal whose teeth most closely resembles your own, you can avoid a guilt-trip by convincing yourself that they had it coming. Cf. the adage cited by Finnur Jónsson (1914, 92) from Guðmundur Jónsson’s 1830 proverb collection: feitr gǫltr fær vel sǫk ‘a fat pig provides a good case (for killing)’. (But this citation may not be independent of Mhkv.)
sakar ‘charges’
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sǫk (noun f.; °sakar; sakar/sakir): cause, offence
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
He who has the worse case never withdraws; first one, then another, gets the short stick; unequal are the mouthfuls of a blind man; we declare grief bad for the complexion. An oak has what is scraped from others; not much is slyer than a fox; it always happens that a torrent causes upheavals; easily brought are charges against a hog.
[5]: The same proverb, occurring in Hárb 22/1-2 and Grettis saga (Gr ch. 21, ÍF 7, 78), is echoed in the flyting between Ericus dissertus and Grep in Saxo (Saxo 2005, I, 5, 3, 2-5, pp. 294-9) (see discussion in Olsen 1960, 26-31; Holtsmark 1968; Kommentar II, 204-5).
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