GunnLeif Merl I 49VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 117 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 49)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 84.
Ríkir ‘will rule’
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ríkja (verb): rule
enn ‘more’
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2. enn (adv.): still, yet, again
at ‘After’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
ormar ‘snakes’
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ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent
notes
[2] ormar ‘snakes’: Gunnlaugr thus translates Geoffrey’s allegorical dracones ‘dragons’, which, despite appearances, are not to be equated with either the Germanic white snake or the British red snake whose hostilities are described earlier in the poem.
missir ‘will lose’
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2. missa (verb): lose, lack
annarr ‘one’
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1. annarr (pron.; °f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir): (an)other, second
þar ‘there’
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þar (adv.): there
aldrs ‘his life’
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aldr (noun m.; °aldrs, dat. aldri; aldrar): life, age
fyr ‘to’
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
skeyti ‘an arrow’
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skeyti (noun n.; °; -): arrow, missile
notes
[4] skeyti ‘an arrow’: Taken literally in Merl; the notion of invidia ‘envy’ is absent. This indeed fits well with the manner of death of William Rufus and may point to Gunnlaugr’s familiarity with the accounts of either Henry of Huntingdon (HA 1996, 446-7: Ubi Walterus Tirel cum sagitta ceruo intendens regem percussit inscius ‘There Walter Tirel, aiming at a stag, accidentally hit the king with an arrow’) or William of Malmesbury (Mynors et al. 1998-9, I, 504-5: sagitta pectus … traiectus ‘pierced … by an arrow in the breast’ and cf. Mynors et al. 1998-9, I, 574-5).
en ‘but’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
annarr ‘the other’
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1. annarr (pron.; °f. ǫnnur, n. annat; pl. aðrir): (an)other, second
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
aptr ‘’
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aptr (adv.; °compar. -ar): back
of ‘re’
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4. of (particle): (before verb)
hverfa ‘turn’
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1. hverfa (verb): turn, disappear
und ‘under’
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3. und (prep.): under, underneath
notes
[7] und skugga nafns ‘under the cover of a name’: The phrase sub umbra nominis, translated by Thorpe as ‘under the cover of authority’ (1966, 174), is also handled literally by Gunnlaugr. It is translated in error as under skyggens navn ‘under the name of a shadow’ in Skj B (contrast LP: skuggi; also Bret 1848-9). For an explication of the Latin phrase, which disparages weak leaders who hide behind a great name or reputation, see Feeney (1986). Robert Curthose was in name the heir apparent to power over England as well as Normandy, being the elder son, but in reality subordinate to William Rufus, whom William the Conqueror had designated as successor to the throne in England (Stenton 1971, 608, 620).
skugga ‘the cover’
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skuggi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): shadow
notes
[7] und skugga nafns ‘under the cover of a name’: The phrase sub umbra nominis, translated by Thorpe as ‘under the cover of authority’ (1966, 174), is also handled literally by Gunnlaugr. It is translated in error as under skyggens navn ‘under the name of a shadow’ in Skj B (contrast LP: skuggi; also Bret 1848-9). For an explication of the Latin phrase, which disparages weak leaders who hide behind a great name or reputation, see Feeney (1986). Robert Curthose was in name the heir apparent to power over England as well as Normandy, being the elder son, but in reality subordinate to William Rufus, whom William the Conqueror had designated as successor to the throne in England (Stenton 1971, 608, 620).
nafns ‘of a name’
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nafn (noun n.; °-s; *-): name
notes
[7] und skugga nafns ‘under the cover of a name’: The phrase sub umbra nominis, translated by Thorpe as ‘under the cover of authority’ (1966, 174), is also handled literally by Gunnlaugr. It is translated in error as under skyggens navn ‘under the name of a shadow’ in Skj B (contrast LP: skuggi; also Bret 1848-9). For an explication of the Latin phrase, which disparages weak leaders who hide behind a great name or reputation, see Feeney (1986). Robert Curthose was in name the heir apparent to power over England as well as Normandy, being the elder son, but in reality subordinate to William Rufus, whom William the Conqueror had designated as successor to the throne in England (Stenton 1971, 608, 620).
at ‘against’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
notes
[8] at vinna skǫpum ‘to contend against the fates’: To resist the fates was an adynaton in Old Norse (cf. Gríp 53/2, Am 48/3). This element in the characterisation of Robert Curthose appears to be derived not from DGB but from the following account in William of Malmesbury (Mynors et al. 1998-9, I, 706-7): … sed nullo impetrato ad bellum publicum uenit, ultimam fortunam experturus. Qua illum infelici pede prosequente … ‘ … he was reduced to overt war, to try a last throw with Fortune. But she pursued him with hostile intent ...’. Such a passage might have appealed to Gunnlaugr, who had already invoked skǫp ‘fate’ in I 42/6. Related in substance but not so close in wording is Henry of Huntingdon, who speaks of divine determination to thwart Robert’s wishes and efforts (HA 1996, 452-5, s. a. 1106).
skǫpum ‘the fates’
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1. skap (noun n.; °-s; *-): mind, fate
notes
[8] at vinna skǫpum ‘to contend against the fates’: To resist the fates was an adynaton in Old Norse (cf. Gríp 53/2, Am 48/3). This element in the characterisation of Robert Curthose appears to be derived not from DGB but from the following account in William of Malmesbury (Mynors et al. 1998-9, I, 706-7): … sed nullo impetrato ad bellum publicum uenit, ultimam fortunam experturus. Qua illum infelici pede prosequente … ‘ … he was reduced to overt war, to try a last throw with Fortune. But she pursued him with hostile intent ...’. Such a passage might have appealed to Gunnlaugr, who had already invoked skǫp ‘fate’ in I 42/6. Related in substance but not so close in wording is Henry of Huntingdon, who speaks of divine determination to thwart Robert’s wishes and efforts (HA 1996, 452-5, s. a. 1106).
vinna ‘to contend’
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2. vinna (verb): perform, work
notes
[8] at vinna skǫpum ‘to contend against the fates’: To resist the fates was an adynaton in Old Norse (cf. Gríp 53/2, Am 48/3). This element in the characterisation of Robert Curthose appears to be derived not from DGB but from the following account in William of Malmesbury (Mynors et al. 1998-9, I, 706-7): … sed nullo impetrato ad bellum publicum uenit, ultimam fortunam experturus. Qua illum infelici pede prosequente … ‘ … he was reduced to overt war, to try a last throw with Fortune. But she pursued him with hostile intent ...’. Such a passage might have appealed to Gunnlaugr, who had already invoked skǫp ‘fate’ in I 42/6. Related in substance but not so close in wording is Henry of Huntingdon, who speaks of divine determination to thwart Robert’s wishes and efforts (HA 1996, 452-5, s. a. 1106).
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cf. DGB 113 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.76-8; cf. Wright 1988, 104, prophecy 10): Succedent duo dracones, quorum alter inuidiae spiculo suffocabitur, alter uero sub umbra nominis redibit ‘Two dragons will succeed, one of which will be suffocated by the arrow of envy, while the other will return beneath the shadow of a name’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). This prophecy appears to allude to two of the sons of William the Conqueror, William Rufus, who succeeded his father as King of England in 1087, and Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, who early in William Rufus’s reign made a return to Normandy from the Crusades and competed with him for the throne; among the commentators to offer this interpretation is John of Cornwall (Curley 1982, 237).
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