Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 101’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 420-1.
Liðs skal biðja, þá er ráða lögskilum,
ef maðr er lýtum loginn;
röngu verz, ef réttu náir,
maðr, sá er dómendr duga.
Ef maðr er loginn lýtum, skal biðja liðs, þá er ráða lögskilum; maðr, sá er dómendr duga, verz röngu, ef náir réttu.
‘If a man is unjustly accused of faults, he must ask for help from those who have command of legal procedure; a man whom the judges help, defends himself against something wrong, if he gets his rights.’
Lat. parallel: (Dist. III, 16) Iudicis auxilium sub † iniquitate rogato, / ipsae etiam leges cupiunt, ut iure rogentur ‘Beg for the aid of the judge in an unjust lawsuit, for the very laws themselves desire to be questioned properly’. — [4-6]: Skj B has the same text as here (except sá er (624) for ef (1199ˣ) or en (Hallgrímur Scheving) in l. 5). Kock (NN §114) questions the metre, particularly the stress on the non-pronominal maðr, which he omits in Skald.
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
Lids skal bidia þä er ʀäda lógskilum, ef madur er lijtum loginn. Róngu | verst ef riettu näer, madur sa er domendur duga.
(VEÞ)
Liðs skal biðja,
þá er ráða lögskilum,
sá er verðr lýtum loginn;
röngu máli verz,
sá er réttu náir,
hvar, dómendr duga.
Lidzt skal bidia þaer rad | a logskilum saer verdr lytvm logínn ʀaungv mali uerzt sa er rettu naer | hvar domendur dvga ·
(VEÞ)
lidz skal | bidia þann er räda ä lógskilum, sä verdur lijtumm | logienn, róngu mäle verst sä er rettu näer, huar | dömendur duga.
(VEÞ)
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], [C. E/5]. Hugsvinnsmál 101: AII, 188, BII, 202, Skald II, 106, NN §114; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 25, Gering 1907, 27, Tuvestrand 1977, 127, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 99.
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