maður er manns gaman

Icelandic

FWOTD – 21 January 2015

Etymology

Literally “man is man’s joy”. (Antonymic is the sentiment of the Latin expression homō hominī lupus (“man is a wolf to man”).)

The proverb is from the forty-seventh verse of the Hávamál, one of the books of the Poetic Edda.^[1]

the 47th verse of the Hávamál

Hávamál verse 47 in Old Norse^[1]
Ungr var ek forðum

fór ek einn saman

þá varð ek villr vega;

auðigr þóttumk

er ek annan fann

maðr er manns gaman.

English translation by Benjamin Thorpe^[2]
I was once young,

I was journeying alone,

and lost my way;

rich I thought myself,

when I met another.

Man is the joy of man.

English translation by Henry A. Bellows^[3]
Young was I once,

and wandered alone,

And nought of the road I knew;

Rich did I feel

when a comrade I found,

for man is man's delight.

English translation by Olive Bray ^[4]
Young was I once,

I walked alone,

and bewildered seemed in the way;

then I found me another

and rich I thought me,

for man is the joy of man.

English translation by W. H. Auden and P. B. Taylor^[5]^[6]
Young and alone

on a long road,

Once I lost my way:

Rich I felt

when I found another;

Man rejoices in man.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmaːðʏr ɛ(ː)r ˈmanːs ˈkaːma(ː)n/

Proverb

maður er manns gaman

Men enjoy the company of other men.
- Icelandic Rune Poem, found in manuscript AM 461 12mo (, ):
  Maðr
  
  er manns gaman
  
  ok moldar auki
  
  ok skipa skreytir.
  
  homo mildingr.
  Man
  
  delight of man
  
  and augmentation of the earth
  
  and adorner of ships.

References

1 2 Icelandic Web of Science: Hvað þýðir "maður er manns gaman"? (“What does maður er manns gaman mean?”)
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↑ ; The Elder or Poetic Edda, edited and translated by Olive Bray (London: Printed for the Viking Club, 1908), pages 61-111
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