Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Anon Hsv 140VII

Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 140’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 443-4.

Anonymous PoemsHugsvinnsmál
139140141

text and translation

Heiptarorða        gerz þú eigi hefnisamr;
        heldr skaltu væginn vera;
af þeiri gæzku        máttu þér gera
        vísa fjándmenn at vinum.

Gerz þú eigi hefnisamr heiptarorða; heldr skaltu vera væginn; af þeiri gæzku máttu gera þér vísa fjándmenn at vinum.
 
‘Do not become vengeful because of words; of hate you must rather be yielding; from this kindness you can make certain enemies into friends for yourself.

notes and context

Lat. parallel: (Dist. IV, 39) Cede loco laesus, fortunae cede potenti: / laedere qui potuit, poterit prodesse aliquando ‘Give way to fortune when hurt, give way to the powerful; whoever was able to harm might now and again be able to help’. Lines 4-6 are reminiscent of Egill St 24/5-8V: ... ok þat geð | es gerðak mér | vísa fjándr | af vélundum ‘... and that temper with which I made certain enemies out of tricksters’.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], [C. E/5]. Hugsvinnsmál 53/1-3, 51/4-6: AII, 179-80, BII, 194, Skald II, 101; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 34, Konráð Gíslason 1860, 37, Tuvestrand 1977, 147, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 125.

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Stanza/chapter/text segment

Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.

Information tab

Interactive tab

The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.

Full text tab

This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.

Chapter/text segment

This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.