Note to GunnLeif Merl I 76^VIII

[1-2]: A difficult passage which has resisted definitive solution. This edn follows Skj B (also Skald and Merl 2012) in adding prep. á ‘on’ before foldu ‘land’. This solution represents a refinement of Bret 1848-9, which tentatively supplies prep. um ‘around’ before foldu. It results in the sentence Þá munu fǫgr víf draga á foldu ‘Then beautiful women will make their way on the ground’. The idea would be that the women move along the ground in the manner of snakes, as stated by Geoffrey. In the sense ‘move oneself’, however, the reflexive dragask would be expected rather than active draga (CVC: draga), though see Fritzner: draga 18; LP: draga 12 for rare and uncertain attestations in this sense. An alternative interpretation of the ms. text that avoids emendation would be to regard it as a late C13th or C14th garbling that has effaced Gunnlaugr’s original. Here ms. foldu would be interpreted as fǫldu ‘headdress’, a f. counterpart of faldr ‘headdress’ (only one example extant in ONP but clearly attested in Bbreiðv Lv 4^/3^V (Eyrb 28), KormǪ Lv 49/2^V (Korm 70), and KormǪ Lv 60/5^V (Korm 81)). Then draga would have the sense ‘wear’ (ONP: draga A4), attested in translation texts from the mid to late C13th. The resulting sentence would read Þá munu fǫgr víf draga fǫldu ‘Then beautiful women will wear headdress[es]’. Women sporting headdresses of varying grades of showiness were emblematic of pride in medieval literature, the locus classicus in Old Norse being Rþ 29/1 (Dronke 1997, 168, 227).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
6. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
7. Dronke, Ursula, ed. and trans. 1997. The Poetic Edda. II: Mythological Poems. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
9. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
10. Internal references
11. Judy Quinn (ed.) 2022, ‘Eyrbyggja saga 28 (Bjǫrn Breiðvíkingakappi Ásbrandsson, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 460.
12. Not published: do not cite ()
13. Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 70 (Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Lausavísur 49)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1153.
14. Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 81 (Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Lausavísur 60)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1173.