Anon Mhkv 1^III

… þegir;
dylja má, þess er einn hverr segir;
…
… eitt bregzk hóti síðr.
Fœra ætlum forn orð saman;
flestir henda at nøkkvi gaman;
gleði minnar veit geipun sjá;
griplur er sem hendi þá.

… þegir; má dylja, þess er einn hverr segir; … eitt bregzk hóti síðr. Ætlum fœra forn orð saman; flestir henda gaman at nøkkvi; sjá geipun veit gleði minnar; er þá, sem hendi griplur.

… is silent; what any one person says can be denied; … only deceives somewhat less. We [I] intend to bring ancient sayings together; most people take pleasure in something; this nonsense shows my good cheer; it is then as if one gathers pickings.

Mss: R(54v)

Readings: [1] þegir: ‘[...]eg[...]’ R, ‘þeger’ RFJ, þegir RJS    [2] hverr: ‘hv[...]r’ R, ‘hve[...]r’ RFJ, hverr RJS;    segir: ‘[...]g[...]’ R, ‘seg[...]’ RFJ, segir RJS    [5] saman: ‘sam[...]’ R, RFJ, saman RJS    [6] flestir henda at nøkkvi gaman: ‘[...]gama[...]’ R, ‘[...]da at navkq[...] gama[...]’ RFJ, ‘fl[...]da at navkq[...]gama[...]’ RJS

Editions: Skj AII, 130-1, Skj BII, 138, Skald II, 73; Möbius 1874, 3, Wisén 1886-9, I, 73.

Notes: [1] þegir ‘is silent’: Only the second and third letters are now visible; both Finnur Jónsson and Jón Sigurðsson report an initial <þ>. A call for silence traditionally opened a formal poem: see en lið þagni ‘and let the people keep silent’ (Anon Leið 2/8^VII), vilk, at gegn lið þagni ‘I desire that the honest people keep silence’ (Anon Leið 5/3^VII). Both RvHbreiðm Hl 43/10-12 and SnSt Ht 85/5-6 rhyme þegja ‘be silent’ with segja ‘say’, as here. Bjbp Jóms 1/5-8^I inverts this tradition (‘I will bring forth the beer of Yggr <= Óðinn> [POEM] before people, although no well-born men may listen to me’). — [2]: Cf. Grettis saga (Gr ch. 46, ÍF 7, 146): en jafnan er hálfsǫgð saga, ef einn segir ‘one man tells only half a tale’; Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr (Flór ch. 22, Kölbing 1896, 71): er ok ósagt frá ef einn segir ‘it is [as if] untold if only one tells it’. — [5] ætlum ‘we [I] intend’: For 1st pers. pl. verb with sg. meaning, see st. 29/6; with pl. meaning, sts 6/2, 14/4, 15/3, 19/2, 26/4. — [6]: The emendations in this line, first proposed by Jón Sigurðsson, have been followed by subsequent eds. Möbius (1874, 25) compares the Icelandic proverb: hverr kveður sér gaman ‘each decides his own joy’. The verb henda ‘seize, catch’ occurs three more times in Mhkv (sts 1/8, 10/6, 11/4), as if prominent in the poet’s mind as he searched for hendingarorð ‘rhyme-words’. — [8] griplur ‘pickings’: Pl. of gripla; see Fritzner: gripla. The term appears elsewhere in Old Norse only in Elucidarius (Eluc 1989, 43), where the name Adam is analysed as an acronym: þat er sem griplur hendi til nafns Adams ‘that is as if one gathers up elements of the name Adam’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Eluc 1989 = Firchow, Evelyn S. and Kaaren Grimstad, eds. 1989. Elucidarius in Old Norse Translation. RSÁM 36. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
4. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
6. ÍF 7 = Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. Ed. Guðni Jónsson. 1936.
7. Möbius, Theodor. 1874. ‘Malshatta-kvædi’. ZDP Ergänzungsband, 3-73, 615-16.
8. Flór = [Anonymous] Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr.
9. Kölbing, Eugen, ed. 1896. Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr. ASB 5. Halle: Niemeyer.
10. Internal references
11. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 640-806. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=70> (accessed 28 April 2024)
12. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 2’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 142.
13. Katrina Attwood (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Leiðarvísan 5’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 144-5.
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 28 April 2024)
15. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa 1’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 959.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl and Hallr Þórarinsson, Háttalykill 43’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1051.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 85’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1196.
18. Not published: do not cite ()