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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Bǫðmóðr Lv 2VIII (Ket 30)/4 — Málsefnis ‘hospitality’

Upp skaltu rísa         ok ganga haugi af
        ok sækja mína sali.
Málsefnis         ann ek þér margan dag,
        ef þú vilt þiggja þar.

Skaltu rísa upp ok ganga af haugi ok sækja sali mína. Ek ann þér málsefnis margan dag, ef þú vilt þiggja þar.

You must rise up and leave the mound and visit my halls. I will grant you hospitality for many a day, if you will accept it there.

notes

[4] málsefnis ‘hospitality’: While in Skj B Finnur Jónsson interprets málsefni as a reference to food and drink (mál ‘meal’, efni ‘stuff’; see the translation måltid ‘meal’ in Skj B), the eds of Edd. Min. (Edd. Min. 144) and Finnur Jónsson elsewhere (LP: málsefni) translate the cpd as ‘opportunity for talk’ (mál = ‘speech’), apparently based on the sense the word has in Kolb Lv 10/6IV. The offer of food for many a day (cf. Hávm 35, 37, 66-7) appears more plausible in this context than the offer of conversation.

grammar

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