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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Mhkv 12III

Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 12’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1227.

Anonymous PoemsMálsháttakvæði
111213

text and translation

Skips láta menn skammar rár;
skatna þykkir hugrinn grár;
tungan leikr við tanna sár;
trauðla er gengt á ís of vár.
Mjǫk fár er sér œrinn einn;
eyvit týr, þótt skyndi seinn;
gǫfgask mætti af gengi hverr;
gǫrva þekkik, sumt hvé ferr.

Menn láta rár skips skammar; hugrinn skatna þykkir grár; tungan leikr við sár tanna; trauðla er gengt á ís of vár. Mjǫk fár er sér œrinn einn; eyvit týr, þótt seinn skyndi; hverr mætti gǫfgask af gengi; þekkik gǫrva, hvé sumt ferr.
 
‘Men say the ship’s sailyards are short; the heart of magnates seems grey; the tongue plays with the aching tooth; it is scarcely safe to walk on ice in spring. Very few are sufficient in themselves; it helps not at all though the slow one hastens; each man could gain stature from the company he keeps; I recognise fully how some things go.

notes and context

[1-4]: The same rhyme is carried over four lines, as in sts 13/1-4 and 19/1-4. — [4]: Cf. proverbs in Ísl. Málsh.: ís. — [5]: Cf. Ísl. Málsh.: einhlítur; fár 2. — [6]: See Ísl. Málsh.: seinn; cf. the reverse proverb in Njáls saga (Nj ch. 44, ÍF 12, 114): kemsk, þó at seint fari ‘all will come in good time’. — [7]: SnSt Ht 26/8 cites this proverb (vex hverr af gengi ‘each gains from his following’) in a stanza illustrating orðskviðu háttr ‘proverb’s form’; cf. gengileysi ‘lack of a retinue’ (Egill St 9/8V (Eg 80)), referring to the falling away of the skald’s friends and supporters.

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], A. [1]. Málsháttakvæði 12: AII, 133, BII, 141, Skald II, 75, NN §§3154, 3271; Möbius 1874, 6, Wisén 1886-9, I, 74.

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