Anon Eirm 4I/2 — skalat ‘must not’
‘Heimsku mæla * skalat inn horski Bragi,
þó at þú vel hvat vitir:
fyr Eireki glymr, es hér mun inn koma
jǫfurr í Óðins sali.
‘Inn horski Bragi skalat mæla * heimsku, þó at þú vitir vel hvat: glymr fyr Eireki, es mun koma hér inn, jǫfurr í sali Óðins.
‘The wise Bragi must not talk nonsense, though you know well why: the clangour is made for Eiríkr, who must be coming in here, a prince into Óðinn’s residence.
readings
[2] skalat: skalt þú all
notes
[2] skalat ‘must not’: So Holthausen (1896) and Skj B (after Árni Magnússon’s correction in 761bˣ). The þú of the mss is retained by Möbius (1860), Fsk 1902-3, Jón Helgason (1968), and ÍF 29, but if skalt is a misreading of skalat, most likely þú is a scribal addition. Kershaw (1922, 97-8), like some others, retains skalt þú and translates, ‘Surely thou art talking folly’. Hofmann (1955, 46-8) offers a similar analysis, assuming future meaning for skalt on the basis of influence from OE sculan. Lindquist (1929, 10) retains þú and takes ll. 1-3 as a question.
grammar
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
| eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
| indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- | ||