Anon Mhkv 21III
Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 21’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1235.
notes
[1] engir láta yndit falt ‘none puts his love up for sale’: Yndi lit. means ‘happiness, bliss’ and by extension ‘love’. The subject (engir) as well as the finite verb (láta lit. ‘let’) are in the pl.
láta ‘puts’
(not checked:)
láta (verb): let, have sth done
notes
[1] engir láta yndit falt ‘none puts his love up for sale’: Yndi lit. means ‘happiness, bliss’ and by extension ‘love’. The subject (engir) as well as the finite verb (láta lit. ‘let’) are in the pl.
engir ‘None’
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2. engi (pron.): no, none
notes
[1] engir láta yndit falt ‘none puts his love up for sale’: Yndi lit. means ‘happiness, bliss’ and by extension ‘love’. The subject (engir) as well as the finite verb (láta lit. ‘let’) are in the pl.
falt ‘up for sale’
(not checked:)
falla (verb): fall
notes
[1] engir láta yndit falt ‘none puts his love up for sale’: Yndi lit. means ‘happiness, bliss’ and by extension ‘love’. The subject (engir) as well as the finite verb (láta lit. ‘let’) are in the pl.
allopt ‘very often’
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alloft (adv.): [Very often]
notes
[2] allopt ‘very often’: The word is attested in poetry only here.
verðr ‘it becomes’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
hreggi ‘a storm’
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hregg (noun n.): storm
svalt ‘cool’
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svalr (adj.): cool
andaðs ‘of a dead man’
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anda (verb; °-að-): breathe, live; (past part.) die
notes
[3] dr*úpa ‘droop’: Drúpa means ‘droop or bow down (in sorrow)’. The emendation (from drjúpa) was first suggested by Konráð Gíslason (1895-7, II, 141). Drúpa, not found in later Icelandic, was sometimes confused with the (overlapping in sense) verb drjúpa ‘drip, hang one’s head’; see Anon Sól 39/3VII. The sense of the proverb is disputed, with suggestions ranging from ‘memories of the dead fade fast’ (NN §2581D) to ‘memorials for the dead man keep his memory most alive’ (Konráð Gíslason 1895-7, II, 141; Skj B).
minjar ‘memories’
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1. minni (noun n.; °-s; -): memory
mest ‘the most’
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meiri (adj. comp.; °meiran; superl. mestr): more, most
magran ‘a lean’
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magr (adj.): lean
skyldi ‘one should’
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skulu (verb): shall, should, must
kaupa ‘buy’
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kaupa (verb): buy
hest ‘horse’
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hestr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): horse, stallion
Œrit ‘tangible’
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œrinn (adj.): ample, sufficient
þykkir ‘seems’
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2. þykkja (verb): seem, think
viðkvæm ‘enough’
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viðkvæmr (adj.): [enough]
vá ‘Woe’
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1. vá (noun f.; °vár): woe, harm
notes
[6] vinfengin ‘friendships’: The n. noun vinfengi with cliticised def. art. The ms. has vinfegin lit. ‘friend-happy’, which cannot be construed to make any sense in the context. The emendation was first suggested by Jón Sigurðsson (Möbius 1874, 9 n.).
ró ‘are’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[6] ’ró ‘are’: See Note to st. 20/1.
misjǫfn ‘unequal’
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misjafn (adj.): [unequal]
þá ‘then’
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2. þá (adv.): then
fasthaldr ‘a fetter’
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fasthaldr (adj.): [a fetter]
notes
[7] fasthaldr ‘a fetter’: This word is also used as a noun to denote a part of a ship in ms. A of SnE (SnE 1848-87, II, 494); otherwise it is only attested as an adj. with the meaning ‘steady, firm, stingy’.
varð ‘was’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
á ‘on’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
Fenri ‘Fenrir’
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Fenrir (noun m.): Fenrir
notes
[7] Fenri ‘Fenrir’: Name of the wolf, enemy of the gods, fettered by the Æsir until the end of the world. Gylf (SnE 2005, 25, 27-8) describes the glee of all the gods but Týr on learning that the fetter Gleipnir worked. Fenrir breaking his fetter signals the onset of Ragnarǫk: cf. Vsp 44/3-4 and 49/3-4 (NK 10-11): festr mun slitna, | enn freki renna ‘the fetter will break and the wolf run free’.
lagðr ‘laid’
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leggja (verb): put, lay
fíkjum ‘it was hugely’
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fíkjum (adv.): fiercely
notes
[8] fíkjum ‘hugely’: The dat. pl. of the adj. fíkr ‘eager, greedy’ is sometimes used as an adv. modifying an adj., as here and in Bjbp Jóms 12/6I, 26/8I and 41/6I (LP: fíkr; CVC: fíkjum). The speaker’s folksy aside – ‘I was told it was hugely strong’ – seems ingenuous, intended to provoke a smile.
var ‘was’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
notes
[8] var ‘was’: The pron. hann ‘he’ (R: var hann) is extrametrical and has been deleted.
mér ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
ramligr ‘strong’
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rammligr (adj.): strong
sagðr ‘told’
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segja (verb): say, tell
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
[1]: For similar proverbs, see Ísl. Málsh.: auður (1). — [4]: Cf. Hávm 83/3 (NK 30): (scal) magran mar kaupa ‘one should buy a lean horse’.
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