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.
Mss: 1199ˣ(75r), 723aˣ(84), 624(147)
Readings: [1, 2] mæla skaltu eigi: eigi mæla skaltu 723aˣ [5] bregz: ‘brgdst’ 723aˣ; er: so 624, om. 1199ˣ, 723aˣ; hafa: hefr 624 [6] ok ilt: eitt 624; gum*ar: gumnar 1199ˣ, gumnum 624
Editions: Skj AII, 194, Skj BII, 207, Skald II, 108; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 30, Gering 1907, 35, Tuvestrand 1977, 143, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 119.
Notes: [All]: 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. — [6] gum*ar ‘people’: Cf. Note to st. 59/3.
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