Anon Mhkv 23^III

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.

Mss: R(55r)

Readings: [3] eins: einn R

Editions: Skj AII, 135, Skj BII, 143-4, Skald II, 77; Möbius 1874, 10, Wisén 1886-9, I, 76.

Notes: [1]: Cf. the alliterative formula in Anon Sól 36/4-5^VII 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. — [3] at eins ‘only’: Cf. st. 17/3. The line contains triple (vocalic) alliteration rather than the expected double, as if the second lift in odd lines did not count. — [3] vegar ‘path’: Here gen. sg. (nom. vegr) in an impersonal construction with vera ‘be’ (see Heggstad et al. 2008: 7. vera). — [4] roskinn ‘fully grown’: P. p. of rosknask ‘ripen, grow up’. Related to the preceding (l. 2) adj. rǫskr ‘brave’ < rǫskvast (AEW: rǫskvast). — [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.

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. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
7. ÍF 14 = Kjalnesinga saga. Ed. Jóhannes Halldórsson. 1959.
8. Kjaln = Kjalnesinga saga.
9. Hermann Pálsson. 1984. ‘A Florilegium in Norse from Medieval Orkney’. In Fenton et al. 1984, 258-64.
10. Möbius, Theodor. 1874. ‘Malshatta-kvædi’. ZDP Ergänzungsband, 3-73, 615-16.
11. Cederschiöld, Gustaf J. Chr., ed. 1907. Clári saga. ASB 12. Halle: Niemeyer.
12. Internal references
13. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 36’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 319-20.
14. 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)
15. Not published: do not cite ()