Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 47’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 389-90.
Ókunnan mann virð þú öngu framar
en þinn vísan vin;
margr er sá illr, er læz alldyggr vera;
brigð eru útlenzk orð.
Virð þú ókunnan mann öngu framar en vísan vin þinn; margr er sá illr, er læz alldyggr vera; orð útlenzk eru brigð.
Do not value an unknown man any more than your certain friend; many a one is bad who pretends to be very trustworthy; foreign words are fickle.
Mss: 1199ˣ(73r), 723aˣ(80), 401ˣ(1v), 624(142-143)
Readings: [1] Ókunnan: ‘[...]kvnnann’ 401ˣ [2] öngu: öngvan 401ˣ, eigi 624 [4] illr: slægr 624 [6] útlenzk: so 723aˣ, 401ˣ, 624, útlenzkra 1199ˣ
Editions: Skj AII, 178, Skj BII, 193, Skald II, 101; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 15, Gering 1907, 14, Tuvestrand 1977, 97, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 59.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallels: (Dist. I, 32) Ignotum tibi tu noli praeponere notis: / cognita iudicio constant, incognita casu ‘Do not prefer someone unknown to you over those who are known: known things are subject to judgement, unknown to chance’. — [6] útlenzk orð ‘foreign words’: Skj B has útlendra orð ‘words of foreigners’ here, from Hallgrímur Scheving’s edn, which agrees better with the sense of the rest of the st.
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