Anon Sól 19^VII

Óvinum þínum        trú þú aldrigi,
        þótt fagrt mæli fyr þér;
góðu þú heit;        gótt er annars
        víti hafa at varnaði.

Trú þú aldrigi óvinum þínum, þótt mæli fagrt fyr þér; heit þú góðu; gótt er hafa annars víti at varnaði.

Never trust your enemies, though they speak fair words to you; promise good things; it is good to have another’s punishment as a warning.

Mss: 166bˣ(46r), papp15ˣ(2v), 738ˣ(80v), 167b 6ˣ(2v), 214ˣ(149v), 1441ˣ(582), 10575ˣ(3v), 2797ˣ(232)

Readings: [2] trú þú: ‘tr[...]’ 167b 6ˣ    [3] þótt: om. 167b 6ˣ;    fagrt mæli fyr þér: þeir fagrt mæli fyr þér papp15ˣ, 167b 6ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, þeir fagrt fyr þér mæli 738ˣ, fagrt mæli fyr 214ˣ, þeir fagrt mæli fyr 2797ˣ    [6] víti hafa at varnaði: vit at hafa fyrir varnaði papp15ˣ, víti sér varnaðar vita corrected from ‘víti sér varnaðar vefia’ 738ˣ, víti at hafa fyr varnaði 167b 6ˣ, 1441ˣ, 10575ˣ, 2797ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 630, Skj BI, 638, Skald I, 310, NN §1921F; Bugge 1867, 360, Falk 1914, 10, Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 10, Fidjestøl 1979, 62, Njörður Njarðvík 1991, 57, Njörður Njarðvík 1993, 25, 104.

Notes: [All]: The exemplum of sts 19-24 recalls the admonitions in Sigrdr 23 and 35 against swearing oaths unless reconciliation has truly been achieved and against trusting those whose kin you have killed. Amory (1985, 16; 1990, 264-5) suggests a reference to Matt. X.16, warning against trusting one’s enemies. — [2] trú þú aldrigi ‘never trust’: Skj B, followed by Skald, normalises all mss’ aldri to aldrigi to give a metrical l. — [3] þótt fagrt mæli fyr þér ‘though they speak fair words to you’: The l. requires alliteration on <f>, not <þ>. Most eds regularise (so Skj B, Skald) by using the more archaic form of the prep. fyrir (which receives full stress) and deleting þér. For the sentiment, cf. Hsv 42/2-3: þótt fagrt mæli | þarftu eigi þeim at trúa ‘though they speak well, you need not trust in them’. — [4] góðu þú heit ‘promise good things’: Þú is omitted by both Skj B and Skald. Falk (1914a, 11) suggests, but does not incorporate into his text, the emendation góðu þó heiti ‘though they promise good things’, a suggestion followed by Björn M. Ólsen (1915, 34). This continues the admonition of the preceding ll. — [6] hafa annars víti at varnaði ‘have another’s punishment as a warning’: Cf. Hsv 98/4-5: annars manns víti | láti sér at varnaði ‘he should let the punishment of another [be] a warning to him’. Cf. also Hávm 45, 91, 124 and Hsv 42.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Amory, Frederic. 1985. ‘Norse-Christian Syncretism and interpretatio christiana in Sólarljóð’. In [n. a.]. 1985. Workshop Papers of the Sixth International Saga Conference, 28.7-2.8 1985. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det arnamagnæanske Institut, I, 1-25.
6. Fidjestøl, Bjarne, ed. 1979a. Sólarljóð: Tydning og Tolkningsgrunnlag. Nordisk Instituts skrifteserie 4. Bergen, Oslo and Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
7. Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1915a. Sólarljóð: gefin út með skíringum og athugasemdum. Safn til sögu Íslands og íslenzkra bókmenta 5.1. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Gutenberg.
8. Bugge, Sophus, ed. 1867. Norrœn fornkvæði. Islandsk samling af folkelige oldtidsdigte om nordens guder og heroer. Almindelig kaldet Sæmundar Edda hins frøda. Christiania (Oslo): Malling. Rpt. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1965.
9. Falk, Hjalmar, ed. 1914a. Sólarljóð. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 7. 2 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
10. Njörður P. Njarðvik, ed. 1991. Sólarljóð. Útgáfa og umfjöllun. Íslensk Rit 10. Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands og Menningarsjóður.
11. Njörður P. Njarðvik. 1993. Solsången. Akademisk avhandling för filosofiedoktorsexamen i nordiska språk. Göteborgs universitet: Institutionen för svensk språket.
12. Internal references
13. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 42’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 386.
14. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper (eds) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Hugsvinnsmál 98’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 419.
15. Not published: do not cite ()
16. Not published: do not cite ()