Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 24’ 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.
Engi knettr of annars mein;
aldri lætk at munni sein;
heimi, heyrik sagt, at snúi;
sumir einir, hykk, at mér trúi.
Erfitt verðr, þeim er illa kann;
engan þarf at hjúfra mann;
þannig hefr mér lagzk í lund:
langviðrum skal eyða grund.
Engi knettr of mein annars; aldri lætk sein at munni; heyrik sagt, at heimi snúi; hykk, at sumir einir trúi mér. Erfitt verðr, þeim er illa kann; þarf at hjúfra engan mann; þannig hefr mér lagzk í lund: langviðrum skal eyða grund.
No one bemoans another’s misfortune; I never rein in my mouth; I hear tell that the world is turning; I think only some believe me. Life is difficult for him who understands poorly; one need not lament any man; thus it has lodged itself in my mind: with long-lasting storms shall the earth be laid waste.
Mss: R(55r)
Readings: [8] grund: ‘g[...]n[...]’ R, grund RFJ
Editions: Skj AII, 135, Skj BII, 144, Skald II, 77; Möbius 1874, 10, Wisén 1886-9, I, 76.
Notes: [1] knettr ‘bemoans’: The verb knetta ‘bemoan, lament’ is a hap. leg. For cognates in other Germanic languages, see AEW: knetta. — [2] lætk sein ‘rein in’: Lit. ‘put delay’; sein (f. acc. sg.) ‘delay’. The rhyme sein : mein also occurs in Gamlkan Has 41/8VII. — [4] hykk ‘I think’: Ms. R reads ‘hyck ek’, but the pers. pron. has been cliticised (as in ll. 2 and 3) in order to make the line metrical (so Wisén 1886-9, I and Skald; Skj B omits the pron. and normalises to hygg). — [6] hjúfra ‘lament’: The verb occurs in Old Norse only here and in the eddic Guðr I 1/5 and Guðr II 11/5; see Kommentar VI, 224. For other Germanic cognates, see AEW: hjúfra. — [8] langviðrum ‘with long-lasting storms’: This cpd, which here refers to a catastrophic emptying of the world (lang ‘long’ plus viðri < veðr ‘wind, weather’), is used as an adv. (langviðris ‘extremely’) in its only other occurrence in poetry (Þorv Lv 1/5IV). The Mhkv cpd in its apocalyptic sense is found in C16th Icelandic prophetic literature.
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