Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 38’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 383-4.
Aldrlagi sínu kvíði engi maðr
né um þat önn ali;
dugir eigi dægr, þeim er dauða forðaz;
enginn feigð um flýr.
Engi maðr kvíði aldrlagi sínu né ali önn um þat; dægr dugir eigi þeim er dauða forðaz; enginn um flýr feigð.
Nobody should dread his death or nourish fear about it; a day and night are not enough for him who wants to avoid death; no one escapes a fated death.
Mss: 1199ˣ(72v), 723aˣ(79), 696XV(1v) (ll. 1-4, 6), 401ˣ(1r), 624(142) (ll. 4-6)
Readings: [1] Aldrlagi: ‘[...]’ 696XV [2] kvíði engi: ‘kuid[...]’ 401ˣ [5] þeim er dauða: ‘[...]’ 696XV; forðaz: so 624, kvíðir 1199ˣ, kvíða 723aˣ, ‘[...]’ 696XV, óaz 401ˣ [6] enginn: ‘[...]ygi’ 696XV, ‘ei[...]’ 401ˣ, hvergi 624; feigð: hann feigð 696XV, 624, ‘[...]’ 401ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 176, Skj BII, 192, Skald II, 100; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 13, Konráð Gíslason 1860, 550, Gering 1907, 11, Tuvestrand 1977, 92, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 52.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. I, 22) Ne timeas illam, quae vitae est ultima finis: / qui mortem metuit, quod vivit, perdit id ipsum ‘Do not fear that which is the final end of life: whoever fears death while he is alive, loses life itself’. 624 has only ll. 4-6. As the two helmingar in 1199ˣ each render more or less the sense of the Lat. distich, ll. 1-3 in the second version mss may not be original. Unavoidable death has already been mentioned in Hsv 35. Lines 4-5 may also mean ‘a day and a night has no value for the one who wants to avoid death’, i.e. people waste their time fearing death. This seems to be the sense of the Lat.
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