Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 91’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 415.
Eigi skaltu lataz, ef þú vilt líf hafa,
þat er drengmanni dugir;
því fleira lýtir, sem færra nennir
gott at vinna gumi.
Skaltu eigi lataz, ef þú vilt hafa líf, þat er dugir drengmanni; því fleira lýtir, sem gumi nennir færra gott at vinna.
You must not be lazy if you want to have a life which suits a good man; a man will blame the more, as he is inclined to do less [that is] good.
Mss: 1199ˣ(74r), 624(145)
Readings: [1] Eigi skaltu: skal eigi sá 624; lataz: latr 624 [2] ef þú vilt: er vill eigi 624 [4] lýtir: fýsir 624 [5] sem færra nennir: er fleira nemr 624 [6] vinna gumi: vilja 624
Editions: Skj AII, 186, Skj BII, 201, Skald II, 105; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 23, Gering 1907, 25, Tuvestrand 1977, 122, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 92.
Notes: [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. III, 5) Segnitiem fugito, quae vitae ignavia fertur; / nam cum animus languet, consumit inertia corpus ‘Avoid sluggishness, which means laziness of life; for when the mind is weary, inertia consumes the body’. — [4-6]: 624 reads quite differently: því fleira fýsir, | er fleira nemr, | gott at vilja ‘he who learns more is urged to want [to do] all the more good’. The last l. is hypometrical and lacks alliteration.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
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.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.