Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 130’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 437-8.
Mikit mæla skaltu eigi um margan hlut;
lasta þú fátt né lofa;
þvít á einni stundu bregz, þat er ætlat hafa
gott ok ilt gum*ar.
Skaltu eigi mæla mikit um margan hlut; lasta þú fátt né lofa, þvít á einni stundu bregz, þat er gum*ar hafa ætlat gott ok ilt.
‘You must not talk too much about many a thing; blame little and do not praise, because in a short while that which people have regarded as good and evil changes.’
Lat. parallel: (Dist. 28) Parce laudato, nam quem tu saepe laudaris, / una dies, qualis fuerit, ostendit, amicus ‘Praise sparingly; for the one you have often put to the test, one day will show you what a friend he has been’. The advice to be careful about what you say is also given in sts 71 and 128. Skj B and Skald use mss from the second group, as in the present edn, as the basis for the text of this st.
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.
Mikit mæla
skaltu eigi um margan hlut;
lasta þú fátt né lofa;
þvít á einni stundu
bregz, þat ætlat hafa
gott ok ilt gumnar.
Mikid mæla skalltu ei um margann | hlut. lasta þu fätt nie lofa. Þuiad ä eirne stundu bregst þad ætlad | hafa, gott og illt ɢumnar.
(VEÞ)
Mikit eigi mæla skaltu
um margan hlut;
lasta þú fátt né lofa;
þvít á einni stundu
†brgdst†, þat ætlat hafa
gott ok ilt gum*ar.
Miked ei mæla skallt umm margann hlut, lasta | fätt nie lofa, þui ä eirne stundu brgdst þad ætlad | hafa, gott og illt gumnar.
(TW)
Mikit mæla
skaltu eigi um margan hlut;
lasta þú fátt né lofa;
þvít á einni stundu
bregz, þat er ætlat hefr
gott eitt gumnum.
Mícit mæla skaltv eigi vm margan hlvt lasta þv f | att nie lofa þviat ꜳ̋ eine stvndu bregz þat er ætlad hefur gott eitt gvm | num ·
(VEÞ)
miked mæla | skaltu ei vm margan hlut, lasta þu fätt nie loffa, | þuiat eirnne stundu bregst þad er ætlad heffer, | gott ⸌og⸍ Jllt gumnum.
(VEÞ)
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], [C. E/5]. Hugsvinnsmál 130: AII, 194, BII, 207, Skald II, 108; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 30, Gering 1907, 35, Tuvestrand 1977, 143, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 119.
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