Hávamál
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This long
poem has been cut in several pieces by the commentators. I’ll use their divisions
as follows. Verses 1 - 78 are most often called gnomic verses because they
provide good advice. From verse 79 starts what we may call Odhinn’s love
complaint though it is often of a gnomic nature, still. It contains the
adventure of Odhinn with
verses 1-10
are below [other verses: 11-14
(‘about beer drinking’), 15-35
(‘wisdom verses’, done: 15-27, 33-35),
36-41 (‘belongings verses’), 42-
46 (‘friendship verses’, done:
42-46), 47-52 (‘humankind verses’, done: 0), 53-57 (‘moderate wisdom verses’,
done:
0),
58-69 (‘action verses’, done: 0), 70-78 (‘fickleness of life verses’, done:
0)]]
verses 79-96,
Introduction to Ódhinn’s love stories [present
state: verses 81 and 84]
verses
97-110 Ódhinn’s love stories with
verses 111-137 Loddfáfnismál [present
state: verse 111]
verses
138-145 Rúnatal [present state: verses 139, 142]
verses
146-163 Ljóđatal. This part is
translated with the runes it illustrates, in my book to come, Howling, I gathered them. [present and future state: empty - See 'A
runic universe'
where some of them are translated with their associated rune
]
Verses
1 – 10 (‘Gnomic poem’)
1.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation
Gáttir* allar All door-ways
áđr gangi fram before going into [this area]
um skođast skyli, all over looked
about should,
um skyggnast skyli, all over pried should,
ţví at óvíst er at vita because uncertain is to know
hvar óvinir where ‘non-friends’
sitja á fleti** fyrir***. sit in the house already.
* Gátta,
when plural, = space swept by opening a door, in front of or behind the door
** flet
= set of rooms and benches
***fyrir = ‘ahead’ and, as well,
‘already’ which make more sense to me, here.
Bellows’ translation
1. Within
the gates | ere a man shall go,
(Full warily let him watch,)
Full long let him look about him;
For little he knows | where a foe may lurk,
And sit in the seats within.
1. This stanza is quoted by Snorri, the second line being omitted in
most of the Prose Edda manuscripts.
Commentary about the vocabulary
We at once meet two frequent words
that are so much used in the Hávamál. They underline two of the most important
themes of this poem: good sense and friendship.
The word vinr is used 25 times in the poem. It is used here under a negative
form: ó-vinr, non friend (‘unfriend’)
which is thus not exactly equivalent to its usual translation of enemy or foe.
Commentary about the
meaning
1. Be wary when you enter a house, also pry the
space behind the open doors.
2. An open door can well be hiding a foe on its
back side.
Evans’ commentaries
These commentaries are found in a
book by David A. H. Evans, Viking Society for Northern Research, 1986. I’ll
give here my scan to the printed version. I’ll not provide the commentaries to
their full extent, except for s. 1 and 2. The full details are available online
as a pdf version, at http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Text%20Series/Havamal.pdf
.
1
This
strophe is quoted near the beginning of Snorri's Prose Edda, without
attribution; see above, p. 2. Only the Utrecht ms has line 3; Worm's ms lacks at vita in 5, and the
Uppsala ms has the awkward Skatnar allir áđr né gangim fram as
1-2 and the pl. fletjum for fleti in 7. The text in Snorri is evidently
somewhat corrupt, though fletjum is perfectly possible (as in
st. 35).
1-4 Although the
general sense is clear, the construction is disputed. Some editors take gáttir
as acc. object of skođask um and skyggnask um, but this is hardly
right, since these verbs are equivalent to skođa
(skyggna) um sik and cannot have an object; they are of the same type as sjásk
um, lítask um, leitask fyrir etc., see Nygaard 2,
§ 154. (Skyggnask um occurs in prose, always intransitively; cp. Fritzner 2 s.v. skygna.) Others
understand gáttir as nom.; this entails taking the infinitives as passives
(with um as the particle). So FJ. It has been denied (e.g. Olson 540,
Lindquist 2,l) that reflexive with passive sense
occurs in the Poetic Edda, and indeed it is true that in Norse as a whole this
usage is common only in the Latin-influenced ‘learned style’ and is otherwise
largely confined to a few verbs such as spyrjask, fásk, byggjask
(Nygaard 2, § 161); yet there are a few Eddaic instances which come very close
to passives (öll muntu lemjask
Helg. Hj. 21, á gengusk eiđar Vsp. 26) and early scaldic verse also supplies
examples (eyđisk land ok lád and
tröddusk trögur, both in Eyvindr's Hákonarmál, cp. FJ 5,275). This is
certainly therefore a defensible interpretation, but it is perhaps safer to
take the infinitives as intransitive, with gáttir as acc. object of gangi;
for this construction cp. Ţorkell ok ţeir bádir
förunautar gengu út skyndilega ađrar dyrr en ţeir höfdu inn gengit Hkr. ii 166 and other instances in Nygaard 2,96.
7
sitja
. . . fyrir probably ‘are present’ (as in 133) rather
than specifically ‘lie in ambush’ (as von Friesen), though sitja fyrir can have this sense with
a dative object. CPB 461 insists that gangi fram must mean ‘go to the door’ (from inside), as
indeed it commonly does; but this involves the impossible ‘lurk round one's house’ for the last line,
and Snorri's use of the strophe shows that he took it to refer to entry from
without.
2.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation
Gefendr heilir! To the givers,
good health! [welcome!]
Gestr er inn kominn, A guest is in come [a
guest has come in],
hvar skal sitja sjá? Where will he sit ‘self’? [here,
sjá = sá]
Mjök er bráđr Much is hasty
sá er á bröndum skal who is near the brands [near the hearth] will
síns of freista frama. himself be tried ‘forward’ [= tried out].
Bellows’ translation
2. Hail to
the giver! | a guest has come;
Where shall the stranger sit?
Swift shall he be who, | with swords shall try
The proof of his might to make.
[2. Probably the first and second lines had originally nothing to do
with the third and fourth, the last two not referring to host or guest, but to
the general danger of backing one's views with the sword.]
Commentary
Verse 1
tells you that you that you have to be careful when stepping in an unknown house, and verse 2 tells you to be welcoming to your guests
who bring something with them (they are “givers”). Sit them in warm place to
make them feel comfortable. Avoid however to put them under pressure (‘haste’)
by an excessive questioning.
Evans’ commentaries
2
1
is
spoken by the visitor as he enters.
6
síns
um freista frama means ‘to try one's luck’, but lines 4-5 are difficult: the problem,
essentially, is that the context is not sufficiently precise to determine which
of the many meanings of brandr is required. These are: (1) sword;
(2) blazing log (in the pl. this is virtually ‘the fire'); (3) raised prow,
ship's beak; (4) in pl., ships’ beaks used over, or on each side of, the door of a
farm, e.g. Grettis saga ch. 3 (ÍF VII 128), where they function as weather-vanes,
and cp. compound brandadyrr;
(5) piece of (as yet unkindled) firewood. The only clear occurrence of
the last in ON is at Lndn. 222, where a servant sent to a farm to spy out
whether a wanted man was in hiding there sá fatahrúgu á bröndum, ok kom
undan rautt klaedi (for other possible instances see Valtýr Guđmundsson
156ff.), but the sense is well evidenced in modern Norwegian dialects and
perhaps also underlies the modern Icelandic expression ađ standa á bröndunum, used in the
nineteenth century of someone standing between door and hearthstones and thus
obstructing the draught (cp. Finnur
Jónsson
á Kjörseyri ţjóđhćttir og Ćvisögur frá nítjándu ölđ [Akureyri
1945] 282).
Bellows chooses ‘swords’, supposing the lines to be
misplaced, and renders ‘Swift shall he be who with swords shall try the proof of his might to
make’; but this would require skal or skyli for er
in 4, and bráđr is not so much ‘swift’ as ‘too swift, hasty, rash’. From sense (4)
Sveinbjorn Egilsson deduced the rendering juta postes (so also
CPB 2
‘at the gate-post’ and Kock 2, 26, who compares the
situation in Vafţr. 11). As SG remark, this would require at rather than á, and furthermore the visitor appears
to be already inside; this last consideration also rules out Falk's (8,225)
rendering with brandr =
slagđrandr: ‘He is
impatient who has to try his fortune on the door-bar, i.e. whether it will be
opened for him or not’. There is a Norwegian expression koma at pĺ
brannan ‘get into
severe difficulties, plumb the depths of misery’, which FJ derives from sense
(3), arguing that in a sea-battle this was where the fight was toughest, and
renders here ‘Very eager (to
receive help or hospitality) is he who is (has been) in extreme distress’.
Another Norwegian expression, der er pĺ brannom med han ‘it is almost up with him, he is on
the verge of disaster’ is cited by A. Moe (see Skulerud 571) to support the translation ‘He is in hot haste who is reduced to
his last remnants to get by on’. Some editors follow sense (2), but á cannot give the sense at the hearth (so Clarke) and
recognition of this leads to extravagancies, e.g. Guđmundur Finnbogason 2, 104
thinks the guest is impatient to see, from
the fire (i.e. whether the host heaps it up or not), what
reception he will receive, and H. Pipping 2, 6 translates ‘Very hasty, rash, is that (guest)
who takes it on himself to poke the fire’, the sacred place of the household;
see also Richert 1-4. Lie 219 also follows sense (2), interpreting ‘The man who is unlucky enough to
find himself on burning logs exerts himself speedily to escape’. This does not
cope well with line 6 and, as Lie admits, does not fit the context. BMÓ 1,
223-26 follows sense (5): the stranger modestly takes up his place on the pile
of firewood and waits irnpatiently to see what reception he will get. This is
not paralleled from the ON world, but can be supported from modern Norwegian
rural custom: “Folk som var bljuge av
seg, kom vanleg ikkje lenger enn till "brondo" … Det er ei herma um nokre gjentor som
eg höyrde: "Du e liksom Röyslandsgjentunn; du kjem barre at brondo"
(ell. "du set deg barre í brondo”)’, Heggstad 165. If a host wishes to honour a guest
especially, he will say, ‘Nei, du skal ikkje sitja i brondo; set deg innar’, Hannaas
232; see also Skulerud 547-8. Those who follow this interpretation, which seems
clearly the best, mostly take bráđr, probably rightly, as ‘impatient, anxious, on edge’, but
Raknes thinks it implies ‘will depart speedily’ if he is left to occupy a humble seat, and will thus bring disgrace on
the host. But the following strophes suggest the guest was hardly in a position
to adopt so lofty an attitude.
3.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation
Elds er ţörf Of
the fire is need [there is need of fire]
ţeims inn er kominn To him who in is come [to whom came in (the shelter)]
ok á kné kalinn. and
at knees is frozen.
Matar ok váđa meats
and clothes
er manni ţörf, is
to a man need, [are a need for a man]
ţeim er hefr um fjall farit. to
him who is lifted beyond the mountain travelled.
[… who has travelled
from the other side of the mountain.]
Bellows’ translation
3. Fire he
needs | who with frozen knees
Has come from the cold without;
Food and clothes | must the farer have,
The man from the mountains come.
Commentary
In verse 2,
the traveler is “near the brands.” Now, verse 3 tells us how necessary that has been. The hospitality rule demands to take good care of
the traveler’s needs: warmth, food and clothing included.
4.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation
Vatns er ţörf Of
water is need
ţeim er til verđar
kemr, To whom
for a meal comes,
ţerru ok ţjóđlađar, a
towel and a great reception,
góđs of ćđis good
manners
ef sér geta mćtti (and) if himself get meets, [if he meets the requirement]
orđs ok endrţögu. (as for) word [= speech] and reckoning [= answers].
Bellows’ translation
4. Water and towels | and
welcoming speech
Should he find who comes, to the feast;
If renown he would get, | and again be greeted,
Wisely and well must he act.
Commentary
The last
line shows two genitives that imply that a genitive-demanding preposition, such
as ‘til’ (= ‘for’), has been omitted.
This continues the description of what hospitality should be. These
demands show the large difference between our world and the ancient one, as
described by Hávamál.
Note however that til orđs ok
endrţögu, word and reckoning are not given to everyone: the guest has to
deserve them.
Evans’ commentaries
4
3
ţjóđlađar ‘friendly
invitation'; for this sense of ţjóđ- cp. ţjódrengr,
ţjóđmenni etc., ţýđr ‘kind, affectionate’, Gothic ţiuţ :.τό
άγαθόν.
4
góđs
oeđis most simply taken, with FJ and BMO, as ‘good disposition, friendliness’ on the part of the
host. M.
Olsen
7, 7 took it to be a needful quality of the guest, but his only reason for this is that in Vafţr. 20 and 22 the
same word is used (ef ţitt oeđi dugir) of
the demands made on the guest (so Olsen says, but this is
untrue).
6 endrţögu -
only
the interpretation ‘silence in return’ makes reasonable sense; ţaga is admittedly not otherwise recorded, but is formed regularly
on ţegja ‘be silent’ like saga
: segja. The sense is that the guest needs
conversation (orđs) from his host, and then silence in turn from the host
while he himself speaks. The CR spelling –ţa/go can equally well be interpreted as -ţögu,
which is read by Eiríkr Magnússon 2,4 and Lindquist 2,7, supposed to be genitive of ţega (the vowel ö is left unexplained by Eiríkr;
Lindquist refers it to u-umlaut in a
syllable bearing secondary stress, cp. -tögr and A. Noreen 77.3).
But ţega
means
‘acceptance’ and cannot give the
postulated sense ‘(renewed) invitation’. Lindquist denies that endr- can mean ‘reciprocated’, but cp. endrgjalda ‘repay’, endrvinda ‘wind back’ and modern
Icelandic endurborga, endurfallinn, endurhljömur.
5.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation
Vits er ţörf Wit/intelligence
is needful
ţeim er víđa ratar; to
him who far travels;
dćlt er heima hvat; gentle
is home howsoever; [hvat er = howsoever]
at augabragđi verđr at
eye-twinkling will [people’s eyes will twinkle at]
sá er ekki kann who
does not know, [the not knowledgeable
one]
ok međ snotrum sitr. and
with the wise sits.
Bellows’ translation
5. Wits
must he have | who wanders wide,
But all is easy at home;
At the witless man | the wise shall wink
When among such men he sits.
Commentaries about the vocabulary
The topic glides from the traveler to his
intelligence, and jumps here in Hávamál’s beginning
main topic: to be or not to be snotr (wise), and to have or not to have vitr (good sense).
Within Hávamál’s beginning (verses 1-83) uses the
word snotr 16 times (thrice in verses
84-164) either directly so, snotr =
wise, either under its negative form ósnotr
= ‘un-wise’, or with a half negative connotation méđalsnotr = ‘average-wise’.
The word vitr is used 21 times in the whole poem. It means ‘conscience,
sense, intelligence, knowledge, comprehension’, that is to say that it covers
most of the mind activities. This is why it is too often translated by ‘wisdom’
(actually rendered by the adjective snotr,
as we just have seen). In verse 6, we shall meet the form mannvitr, human understanding (good sense), which can be opposed to
bókvitr, understanding from the
books.
Commentary about the meaning
The wise ones’ eyes obviously twinkle with
mirth when they look at the ignorant one seated among them.
This verse as well leaves implicit that the
ignorant one is fortunately able to find happiness at home, which he should not
try to leave, especially avoiding mingling with wise humans.
6.
Here is the first verse the content
of which is disputed. The last three lines do not appear in all editions, in
particular in Rask’s (1818). They were introduced in Bugge’s edition (1863).
Besides, several versions do not give a ţví at starting these
three last lines. It might well be that ţví at is an addition
done in order to ‘smoothen the transition’ between these lines and the first
ones.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English
translation
At hyggjandi sinni At wisdom
his/her [OR! While thinking to the mates]
skyli-t mađr hrćsinn vera, should-not a human
boasting be,
heldur gćtinn at geđi; rather heedful in
spirit;
ţá er horskur ok ţögull when the wise and
silent
kemr heimisgarđa til, comes ‘home-yards’
until, [(he/she)
comes until the home-yard]
sjaldan verđr víti vörum. seldom becomes [=happens] a fine [=punishment] to the cautious,
[meaning of the six
first lines : A human should not boast of
his/her wisdom (improbable meaning:
of his/her allies] his/her mind must stay heedful when a “wise and silent” one
visits; seldom a bad thing happens to the cautious ones,]
[three
troublesome lines:]
[(ţví
at) óbrigđra vin [(because)
to a non-breaking [=faithful]
friend
fćr mađr aldregi brings a man
always [OR
never!)]
en mannvit mikit.] when
(he/she
has) human-good sense
much.]
[meaning of the
three last lines: (because) never a human
‘brings’ (more) to a faithful friend when he/she is full of good sense.]
Bellows’ translation
But keep it close in his breast;
To the silent and wise | does ill come seldom
When he goes as guest to a house;
(For a faster friend | one never finds
Than wisdom tried and true.)
[Lines 5 and 6 appear to have
been added to the stanza.]
Commentary about the vocabulary:
Le first line is very ambiguous though the
meaning including ‘allies’ is quite far fetched. My best guess is that it
contains a pun on the words. It suggests that a wise person does not lack
friends.
The word heimisgarđr
designates the garđr (yard) of the heimr (home).
About the three last lines :
Note that in lines 8, mađr is a nominative and óbrigđra
vin is a dative since the word vinr
(friend) takes vin in the dative
case. This is why these lines unambiguously speak of a mađr (man) who fćr
(‘brings)’ something to an óbrigđra vin
(faithful friend). It however leaves open to know who is wise, the giver or the
receiver?
Commentary about the meaning :
The ambiguity we noted very often happens in
skaldic poetry, though it is very hard to render for a translator, thus not
often known to the translation reader. This verse is in one among many that
deal with human relationships. The double meaning of the first line avoids
falling into trivia by simply claiming the obvious: boasting of our wisdom is
typically unwise!
As noted above, there is still a double meaning
inside the last three lines. They may mean that “A man of good sense is
beneficial to his faithful friends,” as it is usually understood, or as well that
“A person is beneficial to his/her faithful and clever friends.”
Evans’ commentaries
6.
1-2 hroesinn at hyggjandi sinni is commonly
rendered
‘boastful
of his intellect’, but the preposition at
seems strange; one would expect af,
which is what we find in the virtualy identical lines in Hugsvinnsmál (Skj. ii 197): Af hyggjandi sinni skyldit mađr hroesinn
vera …
6
The usual sense of víti (the only one
in Fritzner 2 and Cl-Vig) is ‘punishment, penalty, fine’.
But the sense ‘harm, misfortune’ seems to be present in Reginsmál 1 (kannat sér viđ víti varask) and perhaps
elsewhere in poetry (see LP); … Most
editors, however, prefer to follow Falk 8, 231, who suggests that víti ‘penalty’ passed into
denoting the offence itself; so also LP (‘deed deserving punishment,
blameworthy conduct’). This is certainly better evidenced than the sense ‘harm’ and is still alive
in modern Icelandic. Thus ‘the wary man seldom commits a culpable blunder’. The
line is now proverbial; Heusler 1,110 remarks that if it was a pre-existing
proverb this would explain the anacoluthon.
7-9 are bracketed by
many editors; their sense is inappropriate, for they do not really supply a
reason for what precedes.
7.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation
Inn vari gestr Him,
cautious guest
er til verđar kemr who
until (=for) a meal comes
ţunnu hljóđi ţegir, in
a thin breath is silent [holds his breath in silence]
eyrum hlýđir, with
ears hearkens
en augum skođar; but
with eyes sees [may mean the ‘seeing’ of a seer]
svá nýsisk fróđra hverr fyrir. thus
pries the learned one ahead [Since sjá fyrir
= to foretell, I read : nýsisk fyrir = ‘to pry ahead’ = to guess secrets]
[A cautious guest
comes for a meal and silently holds his breath, listens and sees with (or
beyond) his eyes, thus a learned one finds and guesses.]
Bellows’ translation
7. The knowing guest | who goes to the feast,
In silent attention sits;
With his ears he hears, | with his eyes he watches,
Thus wary are wise men all.
Commentary
A cautious
guest is not satisfied by a meal, he “holds his breath” (he meditates), he
listens to (unsaid) words, he sees (hidden) things, he guesses your secrets.
A
knowledgeable human (in magic) may visit you on petty grounds. Yet he will put
to light your hidden secrets.
This verse that seem to overstate things provides a basis for Northern magic. ‘Thus’, it
looks a bit too obvious.
Evans’ commentaries
7
3
hljöd is probably used here in its primary sense ‘hearing’ (cognate with κλύω ‘I hear') preserved in such expressions as biđja (or kveđja) hljóds ‘to ask for a
hearing’, hann kom á hljód at . . . ‘he heard, learnt that . . .’, í heyranda hljódi ‘in the hearing of all’. …
8.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation
Hinn er sćll He
[hinn = ‘this he-one’,
‘she’ would be hin] is happy (and ‘blessed’)
er sér of getr who
for him/her [sér bears no gender] gets
lof ok líknstafi; praise
[and allowance)] and líkn [=carved shape]-stafi [=(carved) staff, letters. Why so many translations do not see carved
runes here ?] ;
[Happy and blessed is the one who obtains praise and (knowledge
of) carved runes;]
ódćlla
er viđ ţat, non- forbearing is
what [ó-dćlla = non-forbearing,
and ódćlla viđ = ‘not dealt with’]
er mađr eiga skal who
human possess will [who will own]
annars brjóstum í. of
the other one the breasts in [in the other’s breasts]
[It is ‘not dealt
with’ (unknown and even ruthless) what a human can own in someone else’s
breast.]
Bellows’ translation
8. Happy the one | who wins for himself
Favor and praises fair;
Less safe by far | is the wisdom found
That is hid in another's heart.
Commentary
I checked that the first editor of the poetic
Edda, Rask (1818) and Gering’s critical edition (1904) reads ‘hinn’. This is an exception to the usual
genderless ways of speech in our poem.
The ‘human of knowledge’ is fortunate when he
gets knowledge of the runes, and the praise that goes with it. Now, this person
thus wields some kind of magical power, he/she is a ‘witch’. The knowledge and
power he/she owns over the other’s heart (or soul, or spirit) is unknown and
certainly ruthless.
The usual translations do not see any message
about magic in this verse (see however Evans below).
In the first half, they simply forget to translate líknstafi and, as Bellow does, give instead the two meanings of lof, ‘favor and praise’.
In the second half, they understand eiga as ‘to possess into oneself’ (hence
Bellows’ ‘to hide’). The actual meaning of is manifold, it is found with the
meanings of: to possess, to have (when speaking of a spouse or a parent, of
enemies or friends), to be bound, to own, to be entitled to, to keep, to deal
with. All these meanings at least imply some kind of special link, of variable
intensity. This is why I may be overstating the intensity by choosing the
meaning ‘to own’. In any case, the second half of this verse says that the
sorcerer has a special link with what lies in other’s breast. This strongly
recalls the old witches’ charged on the grounds of ‘possession’ of their
victims. The word used here to describe this kind of possession is ódćlla.
By itself it means ‘ruthless’. In association with viđ, it means ‘unknown’. The way a sorcerer may possess another’s
soul is described here as both mysterious and possibly rough.
You see that, as opposed claims Evans (see
below), the two halves perfectly fit together when their hints at magic are
taken into account.
In his French translation, R. Boyer
does as Bellows in the first three lines, while he interprets the last three
ones in a way that evokes something ‘unchristian’. He says:. Plus suspect est / De
tirer son inspiration / Du sein d'autrui. (More dubious is / to
draw one’s insight / out of another’s breast.)
Evans’ Commentaries
8
The
two halves do not fit well together, for, as Guđmundur Finnbogason 2, 105
points out, ‘praise’ and ‘favour, warm judgments’ - as lof and líknstafi
are customarily rendered respectively - are precisely
things which one inevitably has annars brjóstum í. Lindquist
2, 8ff. holds that lof is etymologically related to OE lufu
etc. (but this is uncertain) and that a sense ‘love,
affection, esteem’ fits better than
‘praise’ both here and in some other
Eddaic instances (the best case is st. 52 below). He takes líknstafir as ‘words
(magically) calculated to win help from other persons’, a sense that also fits
its only other occurrence, Sigrdr. 5: fullr er hann ljóđa ok líknstafa, góđra
galdra ok gamanrúna. Other editors take líknstafir as = líkn, with
-stafir as a mere derivative ending (so SG, comparing bölstafir= böl, flćrđarstafir = flćrđ Sigrdr.
30 and 32).
4 Eiríkr Magnússon 1,25 and 2,67 emends viđ to
vit and renders ‘less tractable is the wit (wisdom) which one owns in
another's breast = borrowed wisdom is a property difficult to manage'; he
thinks that st. 9 has expanded on this idea while vit was still
uncorrupted. This is perhaps over-ingenious; 4-
9.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo
English translation
Texte et traduction mot ŕ mot en pseudo-français :
Sá er sćll
This one is happy
er sjálfr of á
who self own [who owns in
him/herself]
lof ok vit, međan
lifir; praise [and allowance)] and wisdom, while he lives
ţví at ill ráđ because
at ill advice [car un mauvais conseil]
hefr mađr oft ţegit begins
[is by] a human often accepted [often a human
accepts]
annars brjóstum ór.
of another out of the breasts. [venant du cśur d’un
autre.]
[He/she is happy who
owns during his/her life praise, allowance and wisdom because bad advice from
another’s is often received and accepted.]
Bellows’ translation
9. Happy the man | who has while he lives
Wisdom and praise as well,
For evil counsel | a man full oft
Has from another's heart.
Commentaries about the vocabulary
Remember that verse 8 says speaks also of
‘owning lof. Compare the two verses;
Commentaries about the meaning
Wisdom and lof are necessary to protect you from
the bad advice coming from another’s heart.
10.
ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo
English translation
Byrđi betri Better
load
berr-at mađr brautu at ‘not-’carries the human on a road [a road going
through wilderness]
en sé mannvit mikit; but would be inborn good sense much; [mannvit = inborn good sense, as opposed to acquired or
scholarly good sense]
[the best load a human may carry on a difficult
road is a good amount of inborn good sense.]
auđi betra wealths
better
ţykkir ţat í ókunnum stađ; he/she thinks that
in an unknown spot;
[he/she
thinks that (this is) the best wealth in an unknown spot]
slíkt er válađs vera. so who of woe be. [so it is for the woe-stricken one]
Bellows’ translation
For wanderings wide than wisdom;
It is better than wealth | on unknown ways,
And in grief a refuge it gives.
Commentary
braut is “a road cut through rocks or forests.” Mountainous tracks, especially when they run along a cliff, show many of these places where the road is replaced by large flat uneven stones. During foggy weather, they are very dangerous and suddenly become an “ókunnr stađr”, an unknown spot.
válađ means woe and it clearly took over
time the meaning of ‘lack of material wealth’. For instance, ganga á válađ means ‘to go begging’.
This verse is so full of the wealth of “inborn wisdom” that I cannot agree with
this interpretation. The ‘woe’ alluded to here is the one of being deprived of
good sense, as are, in opposite ways, the overconfident and the mentally retarded
one. The scald does not call them stupid or non-wise, he simply points out that
they show the common feature of being unable to react properly in an unknown,
novel environment. That you may feel like pushing a bit the arrogant one over
the cliff and, inversely, helping the retarded one, or the reverse, is your
personal choice, Hávamál and Ódhinn give no advice about
it.
vera (the verb ‘to be’) can also mean a
shelter. It would only be in the nominative case and I do not see how Bellows
twisted the Old Norse sentence to include his ‘refuge’.