GunnLeif Merl I 101VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 169 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 101)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 132.
Frétti fyrðar, þeirs á fold búa
enn at óra ævi liðna,
hvat of her gerisk ok huga leiði.
Beri in nýju spjǫll við spásǫgu;
sé síðan þat, hvé saman falli.
Frétti fyrðar, þeirs búa enn á fold at liðna ævi óra, hvat gerisk of her ok leiði huga. Beri in nýju spjǫll við spásǫgu; sé síðan þat, hvé falli saman.
Let men who remain on earth after our lifetime has passed find out what becomes of men and pay heed. Let them compare the new tidings with the prophecy; then let them see how the two coincide.
Mss: Hb(53r) (Bret)
Editions: Skj AII, 36, Skj BII, 44-5, Skald II, 28; Bret 1848-9, II, 74-5 (Bret st. 169); Hb 1892-6, 283; Merl 2012, 208.
Notes: [All]: Gunnlaugr’s sentiment here, that the Prophecies would be borne out in the fullness of time, was one shared by people in the medieval and even early modern British Isles, especially in Wales (Taylor 1911, 103‑4). See Introduction on this topic.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
- Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
- Taylor, Rupert. 1911. The Political Prophecy in England. Columbia University Studies in English, vol. 2 no. 13. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Unattributed, Breta saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=125> (accessed 10 May 2024)
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