Anon Mhkv 10^III

Sitt mein þykkir sárast hveim;
sáttargǫrð er ætluð tveim;
oddamaðr fæsk opt inn þriði;
jafntrúr skal sá hvárra liði.
Engi of dœmir sjálfan sik;
slíkt ætlak nú henda mik;
ýta lið þótt alt fari byrst,
engi læzk því valda fyrst.

Mein sitt þykkir hveim sárast; sáttargǫrð er ætluð tveim; oddamaðr fæsk opt inn þriði; jafntrúr skal sá hvárra liði. Engi of dœmir sjálfan sik; ætlak slíkt nú henda mik; þótt alt lið ýta fari byrst, læzk engi valda því fyrst.

His own pain seems the sorest to each man; it takes two to arrange terms of settlement; often an arbitrator is brought in as a third; he must be equally fair to both sides. No one passes sentence on himself; I suppose such will happen to me now; though all the troop of men go bristling, no one allows that he caused that first.

Mss: R(54v)

Editions: Skj AII, 132, Skj BII, 140, Skald II, 75; Möbius 1874, 6, Wisén 1886-9, I, 74.

Notes: [1]: For similar proverbs, see Ísl. Málsh.: mein, sár. — [2-4]: The compounds beginning each of these three lines are not attested elsewhere in verse but are staples of C13th legal and homiletic prose. — [2] sáttargǫrð er ætluð tveim ‘it takes two to arrange terms of settlement’: Lit. ‘terms of settlement are assigned to two’. — [5]: For other examples of this proverb, see Ísl. Málsh.: dæma. — [5] of: Correct use of the expletive particle; see also sts 13/1, 19/7, 28/5 and Introduction above. Fidjestøl (1989b) largely confirms the conclusion of Kuhn (1929a) that the of-um particle is used with declining frequency between C9th and C13th; if so, Mhkv and Bjbp Jóms^I, not to mention Þry, are exceptional. — [7] byrst ‘bristling’: Adj., p. p. of byrsta ‘with raised hackles, angry’ (ONP: byrsta 2). This is the only time in verse that the verb refers to a person.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
4. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
5. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1929a. Das Füllwort of-um im Altwestnordischen: Eine Untersuchung zur Geschichte der germanischen Präfixe: Ein Beitrag zur altgermanischen Metrik. Ergänzungsheft zur Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiet der indogermanischen Sprachen 8. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
6. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1989b. ‘Ekspletivpartikkelen som dateringskriterium: Forsøk i filologisk statistikk’. In Eithun et al. 1989, 46-64. Trans. with additions as ‘The Expletive Particle’ in Fidjestøl 1999, 207-30.
7. Ísl. Málsh. = Bjarni Vilhjálmsson and Óskar Halldórsson, eds. 1979. Íslenzkir málshættir. 2nd edn. Reykjavík: Almenna Bókafélagið.
8. Möbius, Theodor. 1874. ‘Malshatta-kvædi’. ZDP Ergänzungsband, 3-73, 615-16.
9. Internal references
10. Roberta Frank 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Málsháttakvæði’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1213. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1029> (accessed 25 April 2024)
11. Emily Lethbridge 2012, ‘ Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 954. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1122> (accessed 25 April 2024)
12. Not published: do not cite ()