Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 20 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 153.
‘Þat Lundúnum líkar illa;
eykr hon þrimr hlutum þykka veggi.
Kostar hon keppa við konungíðnir;
ferr suðr of fjall frægð af smíði,
en* Tems of borg tekr at geisa.
‘Þat líkar Lundúnum illa; hon eykr þykka veggi þrimr hlutum. Hon kostar keppa við konungíðnir; frægð af smíði ferr suðr of fjall, en* Tems tekr at geisa of borg.
‘That will displease London; she will increase her thick walls threefold. She will attempt to compete with the king’s exploits; news of the work will travel south over the mountain and the Thames will start to surge around the city.
Mss: Hb(49v) (Bret)
Readings: [5] keppa: keppir Hb [7] ferr: ‘mer’ apparently corrected from ‘ferr’(?) during the process of refreshing Hb [9] en* Tems: ‘eyr teins’ Hb
Editions: Skj AII, 14, Skj BII, 14, Skald II, 9; Bret 1848-9, II, 21-2 (Bret st. 20); Hb 1892-6, 273; Merl 2012, 85-6.
Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.174-6; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 37): Inuidebit ergo Lundonia et muros suos tripliciter augebit. Circuibit eam undique Tamensis fluuius, et rumor operis transcendet Alpes ‘London will be filled with envy and will increase its walls threefold. The Thames will encircle the city, and fame of this feat will travel beyond the Alps’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). London and Winchester were increasingly in competition in Geoffrey’s time as royal and administrative centres. — [5-6]: This idea is made more explicit than in DGB, as would have been necessary if st. 21 had originally preceded st. 20 (see Note to II 19 [All]). — [5] keppa ‘to compete’: Emended in Skj B (followed by Skald) from ms. keppir (refreshed) ‘[he] competes’. Merl 2012 retains keppir, evidently construing kostar as a noun but without explaining its sense and function. — [6] konungíðnir ‘the king’s exploits’: A hap. leg. Compounds with initial konung-, as distinct from konungs- and konunga-, are sparsely attested in Old Norse (ONP). — [7] fjall ‘the mountain’: The sg. fjall, as used in Merl, often corresponds to Lat. montes ‘mountains’ and other pl. forms in DGB (cf. II 39/1, II 41/2). — [9] en* Tems ‘and the Thames’: Emended in Bret 1848-9, followed by all subsequent eds, from ms. ‘eyr teins’ (refreshed).
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