Anon Hsv 29^VII

Öðrum heita        skaltu eigi því,
        er undir öðrum átt;
opt þik tælir,        sá er þú trúat hefir;
        brigð eru beggja heit.

Skaltu eigi heita öðrum því, er átt undir öðrum; tælir þik opt, sá er þú hefir trúat; heit beggja eru brigð.

You must not promise another what you have lent to somebody else; that one may often trick you, whom you have trusted; the promises of both are fickle.

Mss: 1199ˣ(74v), 696XV(1v), 624(142)

Readings: [2] skaltu eigi því: skaltu öngum því 696XV, þú skalt eigi gjöf þeiri 624    [3] er undir: ‘sem [...]’ 696XV, er þú at 624;    öðrum átt: ‘[...]’ 696XV    [4-6] símálugs orð þykkir snotrum hól vindi líkt vera 624

Editions: Skj AII, 174, Skj BII, 190, Skald II, 99; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 12, Gering 1907, 8-9, Tuvestrand 1977, 86, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 44.

Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. I, 13) Spem tibi promissi certam promittere noli: / rara fides ideo est, quia multi multa locuntur ‘Do not hold out certain hope of something promised to you; surety is rare, because many say many things’. The first 3 ll. are parallelled in Hsv 41. The text of 624 is closer to the Lat. — [4-6]: The reading in 624 differs considerably: símálugs orð | þykkir snotrum hól | vindi líkt vera, which requires emendation of hól ‘praise, flattery’ to hal ‘man’, thus: ‘to a wise man the words of a long-winded man seem like the wind’. — [6] heit beggja ‘the promises of both’: It is possible beggja refers to the two parties in ll. 1-3, but it is by no means clear. Finnur (Skj B) emends to bragna orð ‘men’s word(s)’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Tuvestrand, Birgitta, ed. 1977. Hugsvinnsmál: Handskrifter och kritisk text. Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap A:29. Lund: Blom.
5. Hermann Pálsson, ed. 1985a. Áhrif Hugsvinnsmála á aðrar fornbókmenntir. Studia Islandica/Íslensk Fræði 43. Reykjavík: Menningarsjóður.
6. Gering, Hugo, ed. 1907. Hugsvinnsmál. Eine altisländische Übersetzung der Disticha Catonis. Kiel: Lipsius & Tischer.
7. Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.
8. Internal references
9. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 41’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 385-6.