Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Note to GunnLeif Merl II 39VIII

[3] færtǫpuðr ‘the sheep-destroyer [FOX]’: This is the hitherto unrecognised reading of Hb. With this kenning cf. II 28/8 týnir sauða ‘that destroyer of sheep [FOX]’ and Note there. For the agentive tǫpuðr see LP: tǫpuðr; Gunnlaugr uses its formative verb, tapa ‘kill’, in reference to the fox in II 28/7. Earlier eds read the ms. at this point as þær (or þar) jǫfuðr. Bret 1848-9 adopts þar jǫfuðr, translating the line as der tænker han ‘there he thinks’, which indicates that jǫfuðr is regarded as a heiti for ‘king’, like jǫfurr. Skj B and NN §2163G (cf. Skald) emend to þar fóa ‘there the vixen’ and þar jǫfurr (‘there the ruler’) respectively. Additionally NN §2163G (cf. Skald) transposes the word order in l. 4 in order to maintain correct alliteration. Merl 2012 proposes lofuðr ‘praised’, i.e. ‘the leader’, but without any supporting attestations for such a usage.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  5. 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.
  6. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
  7. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close