Cite as: Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 134’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 440.
Fávíss maðr ef verðr á firði staddr,
ok getr eigi beinan byr,
liðligra er honum |
til lands at halda
en sigla foldu frá. |
Ef fávíss maðr verðr staddr á firði ok getr eigi beinan byr, er honum liðligra at halda til lands en sigla frá foldu.
If a not very wise man is stuck in a fjord and does not get a direct wind [for sailing], it is more useful for him to keep to the shore than to sail away from the land.
Mss: 1199ˣ(75v), 624(147)
Readings: [3] ok: om. 624 [4] er honum: ráð 624 [5] til lands: ‘er til lans’ 624; halda: snúa 624 [6] sigla: om. 624
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], [C. E/5]. Hugsvinnsmál 134: AII, 195, BII, 208, Skald II, 109; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 31, Konráð Gíslason 1860, 552, Gering 1907, 36, Tuvestrand 1977, 145, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 121.
Notes: [All]:
Lat. parallel: (Dist. IV, 33) Quod potes id tempta: nam litus carpere remis / tutius est multo quam velum tendere in altum ‘Whatever you are able [to do],
try it; for to seize the oar at the shore is far safer than to spread the sail
on the high sea’.