Manny’s Reviews > Hávamál > Status Update

Learn when to answer
and when to ask
if you wish to be counted as wise;
Confide in one
a second's too much
the world knows what three know.

Vin sínum skal maðr vinr vera
ok gjalda gjöf við gjöf
hlátr við hlátri skyli hölðar taka
en lausung við lygi.

Friend unto friend forever be thou,
& gift against gift multiply.
True men do trade them laughters enow,
but leasings redeem with a lie.

I liked this one as well! Though is it clear what "hlátr við hlátri" refers to? Does it mean that you should laugh with your friend when you're having a good time, or that if he laughs at you should pay him back in the same coin? Bellows and Simrock both clearly believe it's the latter - I think Brate too, but I am not completely sure how to interpret "löje" in the archaic Swedish he's using.

... and looking around more, the French translation at http://songerune.eklablog.com/havamal... has "rendre don pour don/Et rire pour rire/Mais duperie pour mensonge," so the "laughing with" interpretation.

I get the impression that people aren't sure about this one.

Could "löje" in archaic Swedish be related to the (modern) local Stavanger word/slang "løye" meaning funny (as in fun)?

The Brate translation is

Till sin vän
skall man vän vara
och vedergälla gåva med gåva;
med löje skall man
löje gälda
och försök att lura med lögn.

It is an exaggeration in fact to call it archaic, but the language is deliberately a little old-fashioned. To me, "löje" is similar to Bellow's "mockery" and Simrock's "Hohn".

(... but if your hypothesis is right and it's like Stavanger-Norwegian "løye", then it's similar to the French translator's "rire"...)