GunnLeif Merl I 16VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 84 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 59.
text and translation
Gerisk sókn mikil snáka tveggja;
gapa grimmliga grundar belti.
Hǫggvask hœknir hauðrs gyrðingar,
blásask eitri á ok blôm eldi.
Mikil sókn snáka tveggja gerisk; {belti grundar} gapa grimmliga. {Hœknir gyrðingar hauðrs} hǫggvask, blásask eitri ok blôm eldi á.
‘A great fight commences between the two snakes; the belts of the ground [SNAKES] gape savagely. The vicious girdles of the earth [SNAKES] strike each other, blow venom and blue fire on each other. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 111 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 145.27-8): commiserunt diram pugnam et ignem anhelitu procreabant ‘they fought a terrible battle and created fire with their breath’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 144). Gunnlaugr goes beyond DGB in specifying the emission of venom and the colour of the flame (on the latter see Note to l. 8 below).
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
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AM 544 4° (Hb) — 51r/15 - 51r/16
imagesGeriz sokn mikil snaka ·í· gapa grimlega grvndar bellti | havɢvaz hꝍknir havðrs gyrðingar blasaz eitri a ok blám elldi
(VEÞ)
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