Anon Mhkv 16^III

Engi þarf at hræðask hót;
heldr kømr opt við sáran fót;
hlutgjarn ferr með annars sǫk.
Nøkkvi ríkstr er heima hverr;
†ta† ek umb at síðr;
orðin fara, þegar munninn líðr.

Engi þarf at hræðask hót; heldr opt kømr við sáran fót; hlutgjarn ferr með sǫk annars. Nøkkvi ríkstr er hverr heima; ... †ta† ek umb at síðr; orðin fara, þegar munninn líðr.

No one needs to fear threats; rather often does something touch a sore foot; … a busybody conducts another’s suit. At home each man is something of a king; … I … about [it] the less; words travel as soon as they leave the mouth.

Mss: R(55r)

Readings: [2] við sáran fót: ‘[...]’ R, ‘v[...]fot’ RFJ, ‘[...]fot’ RJS    [4] ferr með: ‘f[...]’ R, ferr með RFJ    [5] er heima hverr: ‘[...]’ R, ‘[...] heima hv[...]’ RSkj, ‘heima h[...]’ RFJ, er heima hverr RJS    [7] †ta†: ‘[...]ta’ R, RSkj, ‘[...]da’ RFJ, RJS    [8] fara: ‘f[...]a’ R, RFJ, ‘fa[...]’ RJS

Editions: Skj AII, 133-4, Skj BII, 142, Skald II, 76; Möbius 1874, 8, Wisén 1886-9, I, 75.

Notes: [All]: Lines 3 and 6 are illegible in the ms. — [2] við sáran fót ‘a sore foot’: Lit. ‘against a sore foot’: The suggestion by Jón Sigurðsson has been followed in all subsequent eds. — [5] er hverr heima ‘at home each man is’: Lit. ‘is each at home’. No letters are now visible, but some were apparently legible to Finnur Jónsson and even more to Jón. Cf. Hávm 36/3, 37/3 (NK 22): halr er heima hverr ‘everyone’s someone at home’. — [7]: Skj B silently construes this line as øngu tala ‘(I) speak in no way’, a reconstruction that fits awkwardly with the ms. evidence, where all illegible letters precede -ta. — [8]: This line has nine syllables that occupy seven metrical positions: fara ‘travel’ is resolved in the second lift and þegar ‘as soon as’ is neutralised in the second dip. — [8] þegar munninn líðr ‘as soon as they leave the mouth’: Lit. ‘as soon as the mouth closes’. The clause is impersonal, with munninn ‘the mouth’ as the acc. object (see Fritzner: líða 4). Cf. Vápnfirðinga saga (Vápnf ch. 7, ÍF 11, 40): Ferr orð, er munn líðr ‘A word travels when it leaves the mouth’. Wisén (1886-9, I) emends the Mhkv line accordingly: orðit ferr þás of munn líðr ‘a word travels when it leaves the mouth’.

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. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
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. ÍF 11 = Austfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Jón Jóhannesson. 1950.
8. Möbius, Theodor. 1874. ‘Malshatta-kvædi’. ZDP Ergänzungsband, 3-73, 615-16.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. 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 19 April 2024)
12. Not published: do not cite ()