GunnLeif Merl II 2VIII/3 — myrk* ‘obscure’
Sagðr vas lýðum ok landrekum
myrk* at ráða mǫrg rǫk fyrir.
Kærr vas hann kristnu kynni þjóðar;
vasat á moldu maðr vitrari.
Sagðr vas at ráða mǫrg myrk* rǫk fyrir lýðum ok landrekum. Hann vas kærr kristnu kynni þjóðar; vitrari maðr vasat á moldu.
He was said to interpret many obscure signs before the people and rulers. He was dear to the Christian family of people; there was not a wiser man on earth.
readings
[3] myrk*: myrkt Hb
notes
[3] myrk* ‘obscure’: Emended by Scheving (followed in Bret 1848-9 and Skj B) from ms. myrkt (refreshed). Kock (NN §90; Skald) treats myrkt and mǫrg rǫk as in apposition (Han sades spå … om dunkla ting, om mångt, som skulle ske ‘he was said to prophesy … about obscure matters, about many things that were destined to occur’), but, while this construal is not impossible, Kock (as often: cf. Note to ll. 5-6 below) assumes that apposition is a more prevalent stylistic feature in skaldic poetry than in fact is the case; also, the sense and syntax yielded by Scheving’s emendation are clearly superior. Conceivable, with Merl 2012, would be retention of myrkt in the sense ‘darkly’, taken with the verb, thus at ráða myrkt mǫrg rǫk ‘to interpret darkly many signs’. But this would seem an odd disparagement of the popular prophet who is being praised in this very context and, once again, relies overmuch on the accuracy of the refresher. Cf I 9/1-4 and I 100/9-10.