GunnLeif Merl II 14VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 14 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 14)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 147.
Hjǫrtr ‘A hart’
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hjǫrtr (noun m.; °hjartar, dat. hirti (hjǫrt Æv¹ 58²²n.); hirtir, acc. hjǫrtu, (gen. hirta GlossPsalt 9¹²)): hart
[1] Hjǫrtr: ‘hrottr’ Hb
notes
[1] hjǫrtr ‘a hart’: Emended from ms. ‘hrottr’ (refreshed) in Bret 1848-9 (followed by Skj B), with reference to DGB.
drepr ‘will slay’
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drepa (verb; °drepr; drap, drápu; drepinn): kill, strike
hana ‘her’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
hinns ‘he who’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
tvenna ‘twice’
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tvennr (adj.): two
fimm ‘five’
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fimm (num. cardinal): five
hvassa ‘sharp’
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hvass (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): keen, sharp
[3] hvassa: ‘kræsa’ or ‘hræsa’ Hb
notes
[3] hvassa ‘sharp’: Emended in this edn from the refreshed and uncertain ms. reading ‘kræsa’ or ‘hræsa’. This adj. yields good sense and is rather a favourite with Gunnlaugr. Use of hausi without a prep. would be consistent with Gunnlaugr’s use of the bare dat./instr.: see Note to I 47/3-4. Bret 1848-9 and Skj B emend to hræs á ‘of a corpse on’ (cf. LP: hræ), but this makes little sense in context. Kock (NN §96; Skald; cf. NN §2992A and §3004, followed by Merl 2012) posits an adj. *hrœrr ‘quick’, qualifying hjǫrtr, inferred from West Germanic (putatively cognate with ModGer. rühren ‘move’), but this, even if sustainable philologically, would give inferior sense.
hausi ‘on his head’
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hauss (noun m.; °hauss, dat. hausi/haus; hausar): skull
horn ‘antler’
kvistu ‘branches’
[4] ‑kvistu: ‘‑kvstu’ Hb
notes
[4] -kvistu ‘-branches’: The emendation was first suggested by Bret 1848-9 and adopted by subsequent eds. — [4] hornkvistu ‘antler-branches’: Cf. Kock (NN §96), correcting Skj B’s horngrene ‘horn-branches’ (cf. LP: hornkvistr).
kvistu ‘branches’
[4] ‑kvistu: ‘‑kvstu’ Hb
notes
[4] -kvistu ‘-branches’: The emendation was first suggested by Bret 1848-9 and adopted by subsequent eds. — [4] hornkvistu ‘antler-branches’: Cf. Kock (NN §96), correcting Skj B’s horngrene ‘horn-branches’ (cf. LP: hornkvistr).
berr ‘bears’
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3. bera (verb; °berr; bar, báru; borinn): bear, carry
En ‘And’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
notes
[5] en ‘and’: Omitted in Bret 1848-9, Skj B and Skald, presumably because en occurs again at the head of l. 7. Merl 2012 prints the second en as enn (properly ‘again, once more’) but translates aber ‘but’, without comment.
hafa ‘will have’
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hafa (verb): have
kórónu ‘a crown’
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1. kóróna (noun f.; °-u, -ur): crown
kvistir ‘branches’
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kvistr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ir, acc. -i/-u): twig, branch
fjórir ‘four’
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fjórir (num. cardinal): four
en ‘while’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
sex ‘six’
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sex (num. cardinal): six
aðrir ‘the other’
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1. annarr (pron.; °f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir): (an)other, second
sjalfir ‘for their part’
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sjalfr (adj.): self
verða ‘will turn’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
at ‘into’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
vísundar ‘of a bison’
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vísundr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ar): bison
verstum ‘the worst’
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verri (adj. comp.): worse, worst
notes
[10] verstum ‘worst’: This adj. is introduced by Gunnlaugr and is perhaps mostly determined by metrical and alliterative requirements, since the horns of European bison are not specially long, though certainly sharp and capable of use as weapons (Stöcker and Dietrich 1996, 182).
hornum ‘horns’
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horn (noun n.; °-s; -): horn
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.162-4; cf. Wright 1988, 108, prophecy 34): Interficiet eam ceruus decem ramorum, quorum quatuor aurea diademata gestabunt, sex uero residui in cornua bubalorum uertentur ‘She will be killed by a stag with ten branches, four of which will wear golden crowns, while the remaining six will become the horns of buffaloes’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). — [7]: The quantity of the <i> in vísundr appears to have been variable. In its present metrical position it is required to be long, although Skj B and Skald give this example as short. The vowel is short in Sigv ErfÓl 3/8I and Arn Magndr 6/4II. LP, AEW: visundr both give the vowel as short, perhaps in view of the word’s West Germanic cognates, while ONP and most other dictionaries of medieval and modern Icelandic have it as long.
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