Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 28’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 377-8.
Öll tíðindi, þau er upp koma,
ræð þú eigi fyrstr með firum;
betra er at þegja en þat at segja,
sem lýðum reyniz at lygi.
Ræð þú eigi fyrstr með firum öll tíðindi, þau er upp koma; betra er at þegja en at segja þat, sem reyniz lýðum at lygi.
Do not be the first to discuss with men all the news that comes up; it is better to keep silent than to say what proves in public to be a lie.
Mss: 1199ˣ(72v), 723aˣ(78), 696XV(1v), 401ˣ(1r), 624(141-142)
Readings: [1] Öll: ‘[...]’ 696XV, ill 401ˣ; tíðindi: ‘[...]e[...]’ 696XV [3] ræð þú: hreyfðu 723aˣ, reif þú 696XV; eigi: ‘e[...]’ 696XV, ‘[...]’ 401ˣ; firum: so 624, fyrðum 1199ˣ, 401ˣ, ‘fyrd[...]’ 696XV [4] betra er: ‘bet[...] e[...]’ 696XV, því betra er 624 [6] sem lýðum reyniz: sem lýðum 723aˣ, ‘[...]zt kyind at lygi’ 696XV, er reyniz lýðum 401ˣ, sem síðan reyniz 624; at lygi: at lygi reyniz 723aˣ, ‘at [...]’ 401ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 174, Skj BII, 190, Skald II, 99; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 11, Konráð Gíslason 1860, 550, Gering 1907, 8, Tuvestrand 1977, 86, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 43.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. I, 12) Rumores fuge, ne incipias novus auctor haberi, / nam nulli tacuisse nocet, nocet esse locutum ‘Flee from rumours, and do not try to be taken as the recent author of them, for it does not harm anyone to be silent, [but] to have spoken may harm’. — [6]: This l. might have been influenced by Sigrdr 25 (NK, 195): Alt er vant, | ef þú við þegir; | þá þiccir þú með bleyði borinn | eða sǫnno sagðr; | ... Annars dags | láttu hans ǫndo farit | oc launa svá lýðom lygi! ‘Everything is lost if you are silent in response; then you seem to be born a coward or else it is spoken truly; ... on another day let his spirit pass on and thus repay his lies in public’ (Larrington 1996, 170).
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