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Index
Hávamál · Hávamál proper
Henry Adams Bellows stanza 73
3 translations are aligned to this passage.
Henry Adams Bellows · stanza 73
1923
Two make a battle, the tongue slays the head;In each furry coat a fist I look for.73-74. These seven lines are obviously a jumble. The two lines of stanza 73 not only appear out of place, but the verse-form is unlike that of the surrounding stanzas. In 74, the second line is clearly interpolated, and line 1 has little enough connection with lines 3, 4 and 5. It looks as though some compiler (or copyist) had inserted here various odds and ends for which he could find no better place.
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Other translations of this passage
Benjamin Thorpe · stanza 73
1866
Two are adversaries:the tongue is the bane of the head:under every cloakI expect a hand.* * ** * *
Olive Bray · stanza 73
1908
Two are hosts against one, the tongue is the head’s bane,‘neath a rough hide a hand may be hid.He is glad at night fall who knows of his lodging,short is the ship’s berth,and changeful the autumn night,much veers the wind ere the fifth dayand blows round yet more in a month.
Source
The Poetic Edda: Translated from the Icelandic with an Introduction and Notes
Hávamál, translated by Henry Adams Bellows, in The Poetic Edda (1923). Public-domain transcription sourced from Project Gutenberg ebook 73533.