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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Hsv 142VII

Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 142’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 444-5.

Anonymous PoemsHugsvinnsmál
141142143

Vel skaltu vinna,        ef þú átt í verkum hlut,
        ok geraz hölðum hollr;
sinni sýslu        týnir slægr maðr;
        ilt er verkþjófr at vera.

Ef þú átt hlut í verkum, skaltu vinna vel ok geraz hollr hölðum; slægr maðr týnir sýslu sinni; ilt er at vera verkþjófr.

If you take part in work, you must work well and become loyal to men; a sly man forgets his work; it is bad to be a work-thief.

Mss: 1199ˣ(75v), 624(147)

Readings: [3] hölðum: om. 624;    hollr: ‘hollvr’ corrected from ‘holldvr’ 624    [4] sinni sýslu: sýslu sinni 624    [5] týnir slægr: gleymir slækinn 624

Editions: Skj AII, 196, Skj BII, 209, Skald II, 109; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 34, Gering 1907, 38, Tuvestrand 1977, 148, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 126.

Notes: [All]: Lat. parallels: (Dist. IV, 42) Gratior officiis, quo sis mage carior, esto, / ne nomen subeas, quod dicunt, officiperdi ‘Be more gracious in your business dealings to those to whom you may be dearer, so that you will not bear the name of “officiperdus” [lit. one who makes ill use of the favours of others]’. — [5] slægr ‘sly’: 624’s slækinn ‘slack’ (i.e. ‘lax, lazy’) seems to suit the sense better. — [6] verkþjófr ‘work-thief’: This word, occurring in both mss, is a hap. leg. The Lat. word it translates, officiperdus ‘one who makes ill use of the favours of others’, is found only in this distich and an Isidore gloss.

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. Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.
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