Anon Mhkv 23III
Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 23’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1237.
text and translation
Jafnan segir inn ríkri ráð;
rǫskvir menn gefa ǫrnum bráð;
upp at eins er ungum vegar;
engi maðr er roskinn þegar.
Falls er ván at fornu tré;
fleira þykkir gótt, en sé;
auðsénna er annars vamm;
engi kømsk of skapadœgr framm.
Jafnan segir inn ríkri ráð; rǫskvir menn gefa ǫrnum bráð; upp at eins er ungum vegar; engi maðr er þegar roskinn. Er ván falls at fornu tré; fleira þykkir gótt, en sé; vamm annars er auðsénna; engi kømsk framm of skapadœgr.
‘The more powerful always offers advice; valiant men give raw meat to eagles; only up is the young man’s path; no person is at once fully grown. There is expectation of a fall from an old tree; more seems good than may be; the blemish of another is more easily seen; no one goes beyond his fated day. ’
notes and context
[1]: Cf. the alliterative formula in Anon Sól 36/4-5VII en sá réð, | er ríkr var ‘but he prevailed, who was powerful’. Skj B and Skald emend ríkr to ríkri ‘more powerful’ (as in Mhkv). The Mhkv proverb occurs with the same wording in Clári saga (Cederschiöld 1907, 15.47.5) — [2]: Kennings for ‘warrior’ over and over again identify their subjects as providers of fresh corpses for the beasts of battle. See Meissner 286. — [5]: Examples of this proverb occur in several sagas: e.g. Kjalnesinga saga (Kjaln ch. 6, ÍF 14, 16): kvað falls ván at fornu tré ‘[he] said [there was] expectation of a fall from an old tree’. — [7]: Hermann Pálsson (1984, 261) cites similar sentences from Seneca and Cato.
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.
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GKS 2367 4° (R) — 55r/18 - 55r/20
imagesJafnan segir inn ríkri ráð;
rǫskvir menn gefa ǫrnum bráð;
upp at einn er ungum vegar;
engi maðr er roskinn þegar.
Falls er ván at fornu tré;
fleira þykkir gótt, en sé;
auðsénna er annars vamm;
engi kømsk of skapadœgr framm.Iafnan segir eɴ rikri rað ravsqvir menn gefa ornvm brað vpp at eiɴ er vngvm vegar engi maðr | er roskiɴ þegar faldz er van at forno tre fleira þyckir gott en se avðseɴa er aɴars | vaᴍ engi kemz ifir skapadægr fram |
(VEÞ)
editions and texts
Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], A. [1]. Málsháttakvæði 23: AII, 135, BII, 143-4, Skald II, 77; Möbius 1874, 10, Wisén 1886-9, I, 76.
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