Anon Hsv 63VII
Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 63’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 399.
Ill tíðendi, þótt þú einn vitir,
gerz þú þagmælskr af þeim;
allir þann lasta, ef einn geriz
flærðar frumkveðill.
Þótt þú einn vitir ill tíðendi, gerz þú þagmælskr af þeim; allir lasta þann, ef einn geriz frumkveðill flærðar.
Even if you alone know of some bad news, be discreet about it; everyone blames him, if he alone becomes the originator of falsehood.
Mss: 1199ˣ(73v), 624(143)
Readings: [2] þótt þú einn vitir: þau er upp koma 624 [3] gerz þú: vættu 624; þagmælskr af þeim: eigi fyrstr með firum 624 [4] allir þann lasta: vertu þögnmælskr 624 [5] einn geriz: allir lasta 624 [6] flærðar frumkveðill: er einn geriz frumkveðill at 624
Editions: Skj AII, 181-2, Skj BII, 196, Skald II, 102; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 17, Gering 1907, 18, Tuvestrand 1977, 106, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 72.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. II, 7) Quod pudeat, socios prudens celare memento, / ne plures culpent id, quod tibi displicet uni ‘Remember, prudent [as you are], to keep that which makes you ashamed from your associates, so that many will not blame that which displeases you alone’. 1199ˣ is closer to the Lat. text. 624 differs considerably:
Ill tíðindi, þau er upp koma,
vættu eigi fyrstr með firum;
vertu þögnmælskr, ef allir þau lasta,
er einn geriz frumkveðill at.
Vættu eigi fyrstr með firum ill tíðindi, þau er upp koma; vertu þögnmælskr, ef allir lasta þau, er einn geriz frumkveðill at ‘Do not expect as the first among men bad news which comes up; be discreet, if all blame those [i.e. the news] of which one man is the instigator’. There is an implication of causality between the two helmingar which is lacking in the Lat. distich.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Tuvestrand, Birgitta, ed. 1977. Hugsvinnsmál: Handskrifter och kritisk text. Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap A:29. Lund: Blom.
- Hermann Pálsson, ed. 1985a. Áhrif Hugsvinnsmála á aðrar fornbókmenntir. Studia Islandica/Íslensk Fræði 43. Reykjavík: Menningarsjóður.
- Gering, Hugo, ed. 1907. Hugsvinnsmál. Eine altisländische Übersetzung der Disticha Catonis. Kiel: Lipsius & Tischer.
- Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.
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