Anon Hsv 81^VII

Um lítaz        þarf maðr á alla vegu
        ok við villu varaz;
glöggþekkinn        skyldi gumna hverr
        ok fróðr ok forsjáll vera.

Maðr þarf lítaz um á alla vegu ok varaz við villu; hverr gumna skyldi vera glöggþekkinn ok fróðr ok forsjáll.

A man has to look around in all directions and beware of falsehood; every man should be clear-sighted and wise and foresighted.

Mss: 1199ˣ(73v), 624(144)

Readings: [1] Um: um at 624    [2] á alla vegu: alla vega 624    [3] villu: víti 624;    varaz: at varaz 624    [5] gumna: gunna 624    [6] ok: om. 624

Editions: Skj AII, 185, Skj BII, 199, Skald II, 104; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 20, Gering 1907, 22, Tuvestrand 1977, 117, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 85.

Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. II, 27) Quod sequitur specta quodque imminet ante, videto: / illum imitare deum, partem qui spectat utramque ‘Look at what has happened, and see that which is coming; imitate that god who looks in both directions [Janus]’. The Icel. text here does not reproduce the classical reference. Cf. also Hsv 98. In ON-Icel. poetry there are many parallels to the admonition in the first two ll. Cf. e.g. Hávm 1 (NK, 17): Gáttir allar, | áðr gangi fram, | um scoðaz scyli, | um scygnaz scyli; | þvíat óvíst er at vita, | hvar óvinir | sitia á fleti fyrir ‘All the entrances, before you walk forward, you should look at, you should spy out; for you can’t know for certain where enemies are sitting ahead in the hall’ (Larrington 1996, 14). There is also a parallel in phrasing in Sól 19. Cf. also the topic of Sól 40. — [5] gumna: As this is the second instance in 624 where gunna is used instead of gumna, it has to be supposed that the scribe did not know the poetic word.

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. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.
8. Larrington, Carolyne, trans. 1996. The Poetic Edda. The World’s Classics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
9. Internal references
10. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 98’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 419.
11. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 19’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 308.
12. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 40’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 323.
13. Not published: do not cite ()