Note to Mberf Lv 4^II

[7] menn skreytask á móti ‘men dress up at the meeting’: The meaning of this cl. is not immediately obvious. Skj B adopts the H, Hr variant at móti ‘at the meeting’, and the cl. is translated as mændene smykker sig til (ved?) mødet ‘men dress up for (at?) the meeting’. That variant is not supported by the ms. witnesses. Á móti ‘at the meeting’ may be synonymous with á þingi ‘at the assembly’ (see Fritzner: mót 3), which would imply that men were dressing up at the legal assembly for their own self-esteem and also in the anticipation of subsequent encounters with desired women. That interpretation is supported by st. 61 of Hávm (NK 26): Þveginn oc mettr | ríði maðr þingi at, | þótt hann séð væddr til vel; | scúa oc bróca | scammiz engi maðr, | né hestz in heldr, | þótt hann hafit góðan ‘Washed and full of food should a man ride to the assembly, although he might be dressed too well; no man should be ashamed of his shoes and trousers, nor of his horse, although he might not have a good one’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
4. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
5. Internal references
6. Not published: do not cite ()