Anon Hsv 86^VII

Örr at kenna        skalt þú öðrum gott
        ok svá nýtr at nema;
mörgum dugir,        sá er at mannviti kenniz;
        veitir gott ráð gum*um.

Þú skalt örr at kenna öðrum gott ok svá nýtr at nema; dugir mörgum, sá er kenniz at mannviti; veitir gum*um gott ráð.

You must be generous in teaching good to others and also capable in learning; he helps many, who acknowledges reason; he gives people good advice.

Mss: 1199ˣ(74r), 624(145)

Readings: [1] Örr at: gott skal 624    [2] skalt þú öðrum gott: sá er vill grandvarr vera 624    [3] svá nýtr: kosta nýtt 624;    at: af 624    [5] kenniz: om. 624    [6] veitir gott ráð: kennir gott 624;    gum*um: gumnum 1199ˣ, 624

Editions: Skj AII, 185-6, Skj BII, 200, Skald II, 104; Hallgrímur Scheving 1831, 22, Gering 1907, 24, Tuvestrand 1977, 120, Hermann Pálsson 1985, 89.

Notes: [All]: Hallgrímur Scheving includes ll. 1-3 with the same readings as here, but lacks ll. 4-6, which could be corrupt in 1199ˣ. 624 differs considerably, but is used by most eds (including Skj, Skald and Hermann Pálsson):

Gott skal kenna,    sá er vill grandvarr vera,
    ok kosta nýtt at nema;
mörgum dugir,    sá er af mannviti
    kennir gott gum*um.

Skal kenna gott ok kosta nýtt at nema, sá er vill vera grandvarr; dugir mörgum, sá er af mannviti kennir gum*um gott ‘He who wants to be prudent must teach something good and strive to learn something useful; he helps many, who teaches people something good from understanding’. — [All]: Lat. parallel: (Dist. III, 1) Instrue praeceptis animum, ne discere cessa; / nam sine doctrina vita est quasi mortis imago ‘Instruct your mind with precepts, nor cease to learn; for a life without learning is like the image of death’. This st. begins the main text of Book III, but there is no attempt to translate the preface to this book of the Disticha. — [1-3]: For these ll. there is a parallel in content in Sól 32. — [2]: The reading of 1199ˣ svá nýtr in the second l. might have been influenced by Hsv 132. — [6] gum*um ‘people’: Cf. Note to st. 59/3.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Tuvestrand, Birgitta, ed. 1977. Hugsvinnsmál: Handskrifter och kritisk text. Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap A:29. Lund: Blom.
4. Hermann Pálsson, ed. 1985a. Áhrif Hugsvinnsmála á aðrar fornbókmenntir. Studia Islandica/Íslensk Fræði 43. Reykjavík: Menningarsjóður.
5. Gering, Hugo, ed. 1907. Hugsvinnsmál. Eine altisländische Übersetzung der Disticha Catonis. Kiel: Lipsius & Tischer.
6. Hallgrímur Scheving, ed. 1831. Hugsvinnsmál, ásamt þeirra látinska frumriti. Skóla hátið. Viðeyar Klaustri: prentuð af Helga Helgasyni, á kostnað Bessastaða Skóla.
7. Internal references
8. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 132’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 439.
9. Carolyne Larrington and Peter Robinson (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Sólarljóð 32’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 317.