Búinn við meinum skal bragna hverr,
þótt gangi at óskum alt;
sterklig stríð, trú ek, standaz megi
hverr, er þeira bíðr búinn.
Hverr bragna skal búinn við meinum, þótt alt gangi at óskum; ek trú hverr megi standaz sterklig stríð, er þeira bíðr búinn.
Every man must be prepared for misfortunes, although everything goes as wished; I believe everyone can endure serious calamities who waits prepared for them.
[5] megi: ‘meg[...]’ 1199ˣ, mega 624
[6] megi ‘can’: Emendation of the verb is required here for it to agree with hverr. It is possible that the illegible letter in 1199ˣ is ‘i’. Emendation to hvern ‘everyone’ (so Skj B) is also possible, creating an acc. and inf. construction.
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- |