Anon Hsv 48^VII

Hvern dag,        er þú heilsu náir,
        vertu þér at nokkru nýtr;
sótt ok dauði        kemr, þá er sízt varir;
        brigt er lýða líf.

Hvern dag, er þú náir heilsu, vertu nýtr þér at nokkru; sótt ok dauði kemr, þá er sízt varir; brigt er lýða líf.

Every day in which you enjoy good health, be useful to yourself in something; sickness and death come when one least expects them; humans’ life is fickle.

Mss: 1199ˣ(73r), 723aˣ(80), 401ˣ(1v), 624(143)

Readings: [1] dag: dag frá öðrum 401ˣ, 624    [2] er þú: meðan þér 624;    heilsu: heilsan 624;    náir: hefr 723aˣ, 401ˣ, gefz 624    [3] þér: om. 401ˣ    [5] varir: vari 723aˣ, at varir 624    [6] lýða: synda 624

Editions: Skj AII, 178-9, Skj BII, 193, Skald II, 101; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 15, Gering 1907, 14, Tuvestrand 1977, 97, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 60.

Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. I, 33) Cum dubia incertis versetur vita periclis, / pro lucro tibi pone diem, quicumque sequetur ‘Since fickle life turns on uncertain perils, consider each day you struggle through a gain for yourself’. Both versions are very free translations. — [1-2]: 624’s reading, used by Hermann Pálsson and Finnur Jónsson, differs here: Hvern dag frá öðrum, | meðan þér heilsan gefz ... ‘Every day to the next, while health is granted to you...’. — [6] brigt er lýða líf ‘humans’ life is fickle’: The saying brigt er… is quite common in ON-Icel. literature. It is also used in Has 55/1. The unpredictability of health and wealth is also dealt with in Sól 8.

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.
7. Internal references
8. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 8’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 300-1.
9. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Gamli kanóki, Harmsól 55’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 122.