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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Hsv 65VII

Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 65’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 400-1.

Anonymous PoemsHugsvinnsmál
646566

Engan þú fyrirlít,        þótt aflvani sé
        eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr;
margr er hygginn,        þótt herviligr sé,
        ok mjök lítit megi.

Fyrirlít þú engan, þótt sé aflvani, eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr; margr er hygginn, þótt sé herviligr, ok megi mjök lítit.

You should not look down on anybody, although he may be deficient in strength or ugly and short; many a one is intelligent, although he may be wretched and is capable of very little.

Mss: 1199ˣ(73v), 624(143), 624(144)

Readings: [1] fyrirlít: fyrirlítir 624(144)    [2] þótt: þótt hann 624(143);    aflvani sé: sé álfvani 624(143), álfvani sé 624(144)    [3] eða: om. 624(143), 624(144);    lágskapaðr: lágr er margr skapaðr 624(143), lágr skapaðr margr er 624(144)    [4] margr er: þó er sá margr 624(143)    [5] þótt herviligr sé: er herviligr er sýnar 624(143), þótt sé herviligir 624(144)    [6] ok mjök lítit megi: so 624(144), eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr 1199ˣ, maðr þó lítit megi 624(143)

Editions: Skj AII, 182, Skj BII, 196, Skald II, 102; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 18, Gering 1907, 18-19, Tuvestrand 1977, 108, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 73.

Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. II, 9) Corporis exigui vires contemnere noli: / consilio pollet, cui vim natura negavit ‘Do not disdain the powers of a small body; [the man] to whom nature denied strength may be strong in counsel’. Cf. Sól 34. Further parallels occur in Hávm 10 and 75. — [3] eða ljótr ok lágskapaðr ‘or ugly and short’: The two versions in 624 are hypermetrical. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) has eða ljótr ok lágr skapaðr. — [6]: The last l. in 1199ˣ is a repetition of l. 3 and appears to be the result of scribal error.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
  3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. Tuvestrand, Birgitta, ed. 1977. Hugsvinnsmál: Handskrifter och kritisk text. Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap A:29. Lund: Blom.
  5. Hermann Pálsson, ed. 1985a. Áhrif Hugsvinnsmála á aðrar fornbókmenntir. Studia Islandica/Íslensk Fræði 43. Reykjavík: Menningarsjóður.
  6. Gering, Hugo, ed. 1907. Hugsvinnsmál. Eine altisländische Übersetzung der Disticha Catonis. Kiel: Lipsius & Tischer.
  7. Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.
  8. Internal references
  9. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 34’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 318-19.
  10. Not published: do not cite ()
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