Anon Hsv 6^VII

Bragna hvern,        er þú á brautu finnr,
        kveð þú hann kunnliga;
ófróðr er sá,        er einskis spyrr,
        ef finnr at máli mann.

Hvern bragna, er þú finnr á brautu, kveð þú hann kunnliga; sá, er einskis spyrr, er ófróðr, ef finnr mann at máli.

Each man whom you meet on the road, greet him intimately; he who does not ask is unwise, if he finds a man to talk to.

Mss: 1199ˣ(72r), 696XV(1r) (ll. 2-6), 624(140) (ll. 1-5)

Readings: [2] er þú á: ‘[...]’ 696XV;    brautu: braut 624    [3] kunnliga: kunnliga ok góðum orðum 624    [4] ófróðr: þvíat ófróðr 624;    er: þykkir 696XV    [5] er: sem 624;    einskis spyrr: ‘ein[...]’ 696XV    [6] ef finnr: ‘[...]’ 696XV

Editions: Skj AII, 168, Skj BII, 186, Skald II, 97; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 7, Gering 1907, 2, Tuvestrand 1977, 73, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 27.

Notes: [All]: The version in 624 reads: Bragna hvern, | er þú á braut finnr, | kveð þú hann kunnliga | ok góðum orðum, | þvíat ófróðr er sá, | sem einskis spyrr ‘Greet intimately and with friendly words every man you meet on the road, because he who does not ask is unwise’. The additional l., however, lacks alliteration. — [All]: Lat. parallel: (sent. 9) saluta libenter ‘greet willingly’. The idea that one should talk to other people and ask them for news is also expressed in some sts of Hávm. Cf. Hávm 63 (NK, 27): Fregna oc segia | scal fróðra hverr, | sás vill heitinn horskr ‘Asking questions and answering, this every wise man should do, he who wants to be reputed intelligent’ (Larrington 1996, 22). Cf. also Hávm 28 (NK, 21): Fróðr sá þycciz, | es fregna kann, | oc segia hit sama ‘Wise that man seems who knows how to question and how to answer as well’ (Larrington 1996, 18).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Tuvestrand, Birgitta, ed. 1977. Hugsvinnsmál: Handskrifter och kritisk text. Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap A:29. Lund: Blom.
4. Hermann Pálsson, ed. 1985a. Áhrif Hugsvinnsmála á aðrar fornbókmenntir. Studia Islandica/Íslensk Fræði 43. Reykjavík: Menningarsjóður.
5. Gering, Hugo, ed. 1907. Hugsvinnsmál. Eine altisländische Übersetzung der Disticha Catonis. Kiel: Lipsius & Tischer.
6. 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.
7. Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.
8. Larrington, Carolyne, trans. 1996. The Poetic Edda. The World’s Classics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite ()