Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 14’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 369.
Ókunna menn né ölmosur
skaltu eigi at hlátri hafa,
þótt fornmannligir fyrðar sé;
þolinmóðr þú vert, ok bregð eigi af þeim lögum,
sem sjálfr settir þú.
Skaltu eigi hafa ókunna menn né ölmosur at hlátri, þótt sé fornmannligir fyrðar; vert þú þolinmóðr, ok bregð eigi af þeim lögum, sem þú settir sjálfr.
You must not make a laughing stock of unknown men or beggars, even though they are old-fashioned men; be patient and do not break the rules that you yourself made.
Mss: 1199ˣ(72r), 720a IV(1r), 696XV(1r), 624(141)
Readings: [1] Ókunna menn: ‘ogaufg[...]’ 696XV, Ógöfgann mann 624 [2] né: so 624, ok 1199ˣ, ‘[...]’ 696XV; ölmosur: ‘[...]osur’ 696XV [4-5] om. 696XV [4] fornmannligir: fornmannligi 720a IV, fornmálugir 624 [6] þú vert: ‘þ[...]lid’ 696XV [7] ok bregð: bregð þú 720a IV, 624; þeim lögum: lögum þeim 720a IV, 624 [8] sem: er 720a IV; sjálfr settir þú: so 720a IV, 624, þú sjálfr settir 1199ˣ, ‘þu setur si[...]’ 696XV
Editions: Skj AII, 170-1, Skj BII, 188, Skald II, 98; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 9, Gering 1907, 4, Tuvestrand 1977, 78, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 33.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallels: (sent. 47) minorem ne contempseris ‘do not despise your inferior’; (sent. 52) miserum noli inridere ‘do not ridicule the poor’; (sent. 46 variant) patienter vince minorem necque contempseris ‘with patience overcome an inferior but do not despise [him]’; (sent. 49) patere legem quam ipse tuleris ‘keep the law you made yourself’. — [1] ókunna menn ‘unknown men’: 624’s ógöfgan mann ‘un-noble man, commoner’, is closer to the Lat. text. — [4-8]: The st. has eight ll. rather than the normal six, and no ms. version of ll. 4-5 corresponds with the Lat. text. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) removes these ll. and renders the remaining three: þolinmóðr ver, | bregðat af þeim lǫgum, | er þú settir sjálfr ‘be patient, do not break the rules you yourself made’.
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