Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 80 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 12)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 56.
(not checked:)
sofa (verb): sleep
(not checked:)
þar (adv.): there
(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into
(not checked:)
dimmr (adj.; °superl. -astr): dark
(not checked:)
djúp (noun n.; °-s; dat. -um): depth, the deep
(not checked:)
niðri (adv.): below
(not checked:)
tvennr (adj.): two
(not checked:)
ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent
(not checked:)
tveir (num. cardinal): two
(not checked:)
1. hella (noun f.; °-u; -ur): cave, slab
(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
(not checked:)
1. lindi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): belt, girdle
(not checked:)
land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land
(not checked:)
ólíkr (adj.): unlike
(not checked:)
2. sjá (verb): see
(not checked:)
rauðr (adj.; °compar. -ari): red
(not checked:)
seil (noun f.; °; dat. -um): strap
[7-8] seil rás ‘a rope of the earth [SNAKE]’: This, together with lindar lands ‘girdles of the land’ (ll. 5-6), is the first of several snake-kennings Gunnlaugr employs that implicitly compare a snake to a rope, thong, girdle or fetter. In the analysis of Meissner 114-15, the defining phrase ‘of the land’ or similar used in association with these base-words might mean either ‘living on the ground’ or ‘encircling the earth’, in the latter case with their basis in the story of the Miðgarðsormr or World Serpent.
(not checked:)
4. rá (noun n.): [earth]
[7-8] seil rás ‘a rope of the earth [SNAKE]’: This, together with lindar lands ‘girdles of the land’ (ll. 5-6), is the first of several snake-kennings Gunnlaugr employs that implicitly compare a snake to a rope, thong, girdle or fetter. In the analysis of Meissner 114-15, the defining phrase ‘of the land’ or similar used in association with these base-words might mean either ‘living on the ground’ or ‘encircling the earth’, in the latter case with their basis in the story of the Miðgarðsormr or World Serpent. — [8] rás ‘of the earth’: This heiti for ‘land, earth’ occurs uniquely in Merl. Cf. I 21/2 and LP: rá. The word is little-known in Icelandic (CVC: rá n. ‘landmark’) and not attested by Fritzner or ONP, though it occurs in Modern Norwegian and Swedish dialects in the sense ‘boundary’ (AEW: rá). Possibly Gunnlaugr knew it from no longer extant skaldic poems.
(not checked:)
4. rá (noun n.): [earth]
[7-8] seil rás ‘a rope of the earth [SNAKE]’: This, together with lindar lands ‘girdles of the land’ (ll. 5-6), is the first of several snake-kennings Gunnlaugr employs that implicitly compare a snake to a rope, thong, girdle or fetter. In the analysis of Meissner 114-15, the defining phrase ‘of the land’ or similar used in association with these base-words might mean either ‘living on the ground’ or ‘encircling the earth’, in the latter case with their basis in the story of the Miðgarðsormr or World Serpent. — [8] rás ‘of the earth’: This heiti for ‘land, earth’ occurs uniquely in Merl. Cf. I 21/2 and LP: rá. The word is little-known in Icelandic (CVC: rá n. ‘landmark’) and not attested by Fritzner or ONP, though it occurs in Modern Norwegian and Swedish dialects in the sense ‘boundary’ (AEW: rá). Possibly Gunnlaugr knew it from no longer extant skaldic poems.
(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
(not checked:)
hvítr (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): white
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cf. DGB 108 and 111 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 141.573-4, cf. 145.25-6): et uidebis in fundo duos concauos lapides et in illis duos dracones dormientes … quorum unus erat albus et alius rubeus ‘and at the bottom you will see two hollow rocks with two dragons asleep in them …, one white, one red’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 140, cf. 144). Gunnlaugr interprets the ‘hollow rocks’ as caves. The decasyllabic version of the Anglo-Norman Verse Prophecies of Merlin also uses this interpretation (Blacker 2005, 80), but probably this agreement arises through independent anticipation of Prophecy 1 (see I 21 Note to [All]).
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.