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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Anon Mhkv 6III

Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1220.

Anonymous PoemsMálsháttakvæði
567

text and translation

Fylki skal til frægðar hafa;
fregna eigum langt til gafa;
oddar gerva jarli megin;
útsker verða af bárum þvegin.
Ýmsir bjóða ǫðrum fár;
ormar skríða ór hamsi á vár;
vel hefr sá, er þat líða lætr;
langar eiga þeir bersi nætr.

Til frægðar skal hafa fylki; eigum fregna langt til gafa; oddar gerva jarli megin; útsker verða þvegin af bárum. Ýmsir bjóða ǫðrum fár; ormar skríða ór hamsi á vár; sá hefr vel, er lætr þat líða; þeir bersi eiga langar nætr.
 
‘One shall have a prince for glory; we ought to hear of a fool from far off; spears give strength to a jarl; outer skerries are washed by waves. Many offer harm to another; snakes slither from their slough in spring; he comes off well who lets it pass by; a bear and his kind have long nights.

notes and context

[1]: A saying attributed to Magnús berfœttr in Magnúss saga berfœtts (MberfHkr, ÍF 28, 237): til frægðar skal konung hafa, en ekki til langlífis ‘one shall have a king for glory and not for long life’. — [3]: Jarls are depicted here as elsewhere as the prototype of violent behaviour. — [8]: The ‘night of a bear’ is a kenning for winter: cf. HSt Rst 13/1I. Wisén (1886-9, I, 74) emends þeir bersi ‘the bear and his kind’ to bersar ‘bears’.

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.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], A. [1]. Málsháttakvæði 6: AII, 132, BII, 139, Skald II, 74; Möbius 1874, 4, Wisén 1886-9, I, 73-4.

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