Hávamál

Verses 36-41 of the Gnomic poem,

“home, sweet home”

********* 36. *********

ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation

Bú er betra, A house is better

þótt lítit sé, although small be

halr er heima hverr; man is at home each; [each man is at home]

þótt tvær geitr eigi although two goats has

ok taugreftan sal, and rope-roofed hall,

þat er þó betra en bæn. that is though better than a prayer [begging].

Bellows’ translation

36. Better a house, | though a hut it be,

A man is master at home;

A pair of goats | and a patched-up roof

Are better far than begging.

36. The manuscript has "little" in place of "a hut" in line 1, but this involves an error in the initial-rhymes, and the emendation has been generally accepted.

Commentary

As far as no emendation seems to be acceptable, let us keep the text as it is, even though it violates the rules of skaldic poetry.

As humble as it might be, my home is my hall.

Evans’ Commentaries (summary)

36

2 lacks alliteration. .. (Hence) the supposition that 1-2 are an old proverb incorporated in the poem without alteration, and … suggests that lítit gives such perfect meaning (which is true enough) that the poet decided for once to dispense with alliteration. But lack of parallels makes this implausible. No wholly persuasive emendation, however, has yet been advanced. Among suggested substitutions for lítit are búkot …, borlítit …, bjarglítit (… found only in modern Icelandic) and búð … þόt séi bragðlítit , Bú, þόtt sé lítit, betra er, … en biðja sé, (which is rewriting rather than emending …

5 taugreptan (only here) evidently refers to a house whose raptar ‘rafters’ are of taug, ‘ropes’ or perhaps ‘withies’, instead of timber. For the characterization of the poorest type of household, compare Rígsþula, where þræll and þír tend pigs and goats (12) while the farmer Karl is depicted as breaking in oxen and erecting buildings of timber (22).

********* 37. *********

ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation

Bú er betra, A house is better

þótt lítit sé, although small be

halr er heima hverr; man is at home each; [each man is at home]

blóðugt er hjarta bleeding ist he heart

þeim er biðja skal of one who beg must

sér í mál hvert matar. for self in time [‘in’ times (when)] who(ever) he feeds.

Bellows’ translation

37. Better a house, | though a hut it be,

A man is master at home;

His heart is bleeding | who needs must beg

When food he fain would have.

37. Lines I and 2 are abbreviated in the manuscript, but are doubtless identical with the first two lines of stanza 56.

Commentary

The last line is almost always rendered in a way that understands that the ‘man’ feeds himself. The text, with its neutral accusative hvert, hints rather at a kind of ‘whoever it might be’, that is himself and his kin.

“(non)”-“friend , sweet friend”

********* 38. *********

ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation

38.

Vápnum sínum (Away) from weapons his

skal-a maðr velli á should-not a man the field on [on the field; velli = dat. of völlr]

feti ganga framar, a foot to go further,

því at óvíst er at vita because ‘at’ non-sure [or non-wise] is to know

nær verðr á vegum úti near becomes on the ways outside

geirs um þörf guma. of a spear about the need of the man.

[(1^st half) On the field, a man must not leave his weapons one foot away, (2^nd half) because he is not sure to know how much near, on the high ways, is the man’s need of a spear.]

Bellows’ translation

38. Away from his arms | in the open field

A man should fare not a foot;

For never he knows | when the need for a spear

Shall arise on the distant road.

Commentary

We live in a dangerous world.

Evans’ Commentaries

38

2 velli á probably means no more than ‘out of doors’ (surely not ‘on the battlefield’ as Holtsmark 4, 147 suggests).

************** 39. **************

ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation

Notation [OR : x, y, z] means that, depending on the manuscript (as given by Gering,1904) we can read x or y or z. This is not the problem of an editor who chooses to read this or that as Evans says in his comments!

39.

Fannk-a ek mildan mann eða svá matar góðan, at [OR: væri-t væria, væri] þiggja þegit, eða síns fear svági [OR: gjöflan, glöggvan, örvan], at leið sé laun, ef þægi.

I have found-not I the mild [or munificent] human or thus (he) feeds (another one, a sick one) (may be: eager to show off his) goodness at would be [OR: –not] to receive [or to accept] he is silent [he is not silent to receive = he acknowledges what he receives OR he refuses what he receives] or of his wealth not so [OR: free-giving, stingy, closed about], [so OR: stingy, generous, open] at the way [he is ‘on his way to’ = going to] be (subj.) rewards, if he receives [or accepts]

[I did not find such a person who is munificent or who liberally feeds others and who thanks (or refuses, OR is silent) for what he receives, or is of his wealth so (OR stingy, generous, open) in the way of rewards.]

Bellows’ translation

40. None so free with gifts | or food have I found

That gladly he took not a gift,

Nor one who so widely | scattered his wealth

That of recompense hatred he had.

40. The key-word in line 3 is missing in the manuscript, but editors have agreed in inserting a word meaning "generous."

[Notes YK]

1. Bellows calls ‘40’ what we call ‘39’.

2. The first editor, Rask hesitates and proposes after svági: aurfan or örvan. Bugge proposes: giöflan.

Commentary

Since the several existing versions more or less contradict each other, there is no way to decide with certainty what means this verse.

The translators forget to insist on a thin variation of meaning of góðr. It obviously means ‘good, rich’ but it may also be slightly ironical . For example, góðr matar means “he is a good host who invites generously ». It however may also imply that the host is eager to be thought as being good (he loves to show himself in the role of a good host.)

My interpretation of Hávamál always tends to favor its derogatory side, I confess. I thus tend to believe that this verse criticizes the too showy generous man: he flaunts his hospitality. He knows when he needs to thank but he is stingy in his rewards.

Evans’ Commentaries

39

(Some) … note similar expressions in Swedish runic epitaphs: at Hagstugan in Sodermanland … four sons erected a stone in memory of their father Dómara, mildan orða ok matar góðan, and the Ivla stone in Smiland … commemorates one Sveinn, mildan við sinna ok matar góðan (spelling normalized). Both these inscriptions are in verse.

3 Most scholars appear to take this line as conveying the idea ‘that he would not accept a gift if it were offered to him’ …. But this follows poorly on 1-2 (for it is no denigration of a man's generosity that he is also willing to accept a gift) and, … it is hard to see how such a meaning can be deduced from the text. 1-3 must rather mean: ‘I never met a man so generous, or so liberal with food, that þiggja was not þegit, to accept was not (reckoned as) accepted, i.e. that accepting (of hospitality from him) was not (in his eyes) a gift (and therefore demanding repayment)’. ..

5 An adj. in the acc. sg. m. has evidently been omitted after svági (there is no gap in CR). The general sense of 4-5 must be something like ‘or so generous with his money’. Most editors insert gjöflan, others örvan, though they differ as to retaining or omitting -gi. …

6 The last word reads þegi in CR, interpreted by many editors as þægi, pret. subj. (cp. mælum 91, svæfik 154, written melom, svefic); but the ‘full line’ should not end in a trochee (cp. on 31 above). CPB 460 suggests þegin for ef þegi, FJ reads þiggr, M. Olsen 7, 16 conjectures geti. …

************** 40. **************

ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation

40.

Féar síns Of his/her wealth

er fengit hefr that ‘in order to fetch’ [supine form] he/she raises

skyli-t maðr þörf þola; should’nt the human the need endure;

[The need of their riches that they raise in order to fetch (them), humans should not endure;]

oft sparir leiðum often he/she spares for the disliked one

þats hefr ljúfum hugat; what he/she raises for the dear one (was) thought;

[Often what is thought to be spared for the dear one, happens to be for the disliked one;]

margt gengr verr en varir. much goes worse than (he/she) is aware of.

Bellows’ translation

39. If wealth a man | has won for himself,

Let him never suffer in need;

Oft he saves for a foe | what he plans for a friend,

For much goes worse than we wish.

39. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 40. [Note YK: thus Bellows calls ‘39’ what we call ‘40’]

Commentaries about the meaning

As you will see my understanding is very close to Evans’. Féars sins being an obvious genitive (complement of a noun) the noun it complements only can be or maðr either þörf. A ‘man of his wealth’ makes little sense, while a ‘need of his wealth’ is obvious. In line 3, fengit cannot be a neuter since there is no other neuter to associate it with, thus it is supine form. My translation obviously follows from these two remarks and nobody can understand anything else than:“Who has acquired a large amount of riches should not let him/herself eaten up by them.” You see that Bellows says: “Who has acquired a large amount of riches should not suffer in need,” and Boyer in his French translations says: “De son argent / Et de ce qu'on a reçu, / On ne devrait pas se refuser de jouir. (Of his money, and what he received, / he should not refuse to enjoy)” which means “the rich person should enjoy his/her wealth.” It is remarkable that both of them miss the point of this half-verse.

Evans’ Commentaries

40

Von See 2, 11-12 takes the sense of 1-3 to be ‘Be generous (to others)’. But ‘one should not endure need of one's money, which one has acquired’ would be a very tortuous, even impossible, way to express this simple notion, and it is not the case, as he avers, that 4-5 impose this interpretation. The sense is rather ‘Don't hesitate to make use of your money; for, after all, if you do save it, it may very well end up in the hands of someone you wouldn't have chosen’.

************** 41. **************

ON Text and its word-for-word pseudo English translation

Vápnum ok váðum Weapons and clothes [if váð; or dangers if váði both give váðum]

skulu vinir gleðjask; should friends self-rejoice;

þat er á sjálfum sýnst; that is on one-self the most visible [obvious];

viðurgefendr ok endrgefendr ‘in-return-of’-giving ones and again-giving ones

erusk lengst vinir, are-self longest friends

ef þat bíðr at verða vel. if that begs to be well.

Bellows’ translation

41. Friends shall gladden each other | with arms and garments,

As each for himself can see;

Gift-givers' friendships | are longest found,

If fair their fates may be.

41. In line 3 the manuscript adds "givers again" to "gift-givers."

Commentary

The word sýnn means ‘visible, non hidden’ but Cleasby-Vigfusson believed necessary to introduce a meaning ‘sightly’ (= comely) specially for this line. For once, this looks to me a pure invention done to make some more ‘charming’ this line, which does not deserves such an insult.

Evans’ discussion around viðurgefendr ok endrgefendr seems out of place to me. This way of speech gets its majesty from the Hávamál, not from a saying, visibly inspired by the poem. By the way, the meaning of this saying is quite clear : it speaks of these people who provide a ‘return gift’ and who, besides, are not shy at giving and giving again, instead of feeling vindicated by returning something equivalent to what they have been gifted with.

Bellows’ rendering of the turn of phrase ‘if that begs to be well’ (“If fair their fates may be” might be the best I can imagine. We have to beg the Norns to get a ‘fair amount of time’. This calls for a complete lack of arrogance which is hard to express better than the scald did.

Evans’ Commentaries

41

3 ‘That is most manifest on oneself or ’. . . on themselves’ (sjálfum may be sg. or pl.). What can this mean? Richert 8-9 understood it as ‘One knows this best from one's own experience’, and this has been widely followed … This goes back to Sveinbjorn Egilsson's ‘hæc (arma vestesque) in ipsis sunt maxime conspicua’, and is far more plausible; … compares Haraldskvaeði: á gerðum sér þeira / ok á gullbaugum / at þeir eru í kunnleikum við konung ‘One sees from their garb and their rings of gold that they are on familiar terms with the king’ (Skj. í 24-5). Þat refers to the whole content of 1-2: the idea is that the reciprocally exchanged gifts which they bear on their bodies give the most manifest testimony to their mutual generosity.

4-5 FJ and SG expelled ok endrgefendr as tautologous … But Matras drew attention to a Faroese proverb recorded by Svabo (1746-1824): Endigjeer o viigjeer eru laangstir Vinir, which Matras renders in ‘normalised Norse form’ as endrgerð ok vibrgerð eru lengstir vinir. Svabo translated the proverb as ‘… officia redintegrata amicitiam diutissime conservant’.