Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1218.
Þjóð spyrr alt, þat er þrír menn vitu;
þeir hafa verr, er trygðum slitu;
ekki er því til eins manns skotit;
ýmsir hafa þau dœmi hlotit.
Hermðarorð munu hittask í;
heimult ák at glaupsa of því,
— nǫkkut varð hon sýsla of sik
svinneyg drós — hvé hon fór við mik.
Þjóð spyrr alt, þat er þrír menn vitu; þeir, er slitu trygðum, hafa verr; ekki er því skotit til eins manns; ýmsir hafa hlotit þau dœmi. Hermðarorð munu hittask í; heimult ák at glaupsa of því – hon varð nǫkkut sýsla of sik, svinneyg drós –, hvé hon fór við mik.
The world learns all that three people know; those who have broken sworn pledges come off worse; that is not aimed at any one person; several have had those experiences as their lot. Angry words shall be found here; I have the right to speak mouthfuls about that – she rather had to look after herself, the wise-eyed woman – how she treated me.
Mss: R(54v)
Readings: [8] svinneyg: ‘svineyg’ R
Editions: Skj AII, 131, Skj BII, 138-9, Skald II, 74, NN §3269; Möbius 1874, 3, Wisén 1886-9, I, 73.
Notes: [1]: Cf. Hávm 63/6 (NK 27): þióð veit, | ef þríro ‘the world knows if three do’; for other Old Norse-Icelandic examples of this proverb, see Ísl. Málsh.: þjóð. Several English versions of the adage exist; cf. Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (July 1735): ‘Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead’. Additional examples in Whiting and Wescott (1968: T248, T544). — [6] at glaupsa ‘to speak mouthfuls’: Lit. ‘to speak ironically, indecently about sth.’ (see LP: glaupsa and Heggstad et al. 2008: glaupsa). — [8] svinneyg drós ‘the wise-eyed woman’: An apparent apo koinou construction, to be taken with either the preceding or following clause. The emendation of ms. ‘svineyg’ was first suggested by Jón Sigurðsson; CPB II, 364 translates svín-eyg as ‘pigsney’ or ‘pig’s eye’, a northern version of ‘ox-eyed Juno’? English ‘pignsey’ (ME piggisnye ‘pig’s-eye’ or ‘piggy’s eye’) probably originated in children’s talk, or as a nursery endearment – or perhaps even a flower-name (OED: pigsney). Nevertheless, such a female epithet would be unprecedented in Old Norse (svín-words tend to be uncomplimentary or nautical), while the Old Norse adj. svinnr ‘wise, quick’ (alone or compounded) frequently describes women, especially in poetry. — [8] hon ‘she’: Wisén (1886-9, I, 73) deletes the pron. as extra-metrical.
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