GunnLeif Merl II 26VIII/8 — limum ‘the branches’
‘En fogl ept þat ferr vestr í dal,
þanns Gálábes gumnar kalla.
Hann mun hefjask í it hæsta fjall,
ok þar uppi í eikr limum
hreiðrask hegri; hann es fogla verstr.
‘En fogl ferr vestr í dal ept þat, þanns gumnar kalla Gálábes. Hann mun hefjask í it hæsta fjall, ok hegri hreiðrask þar uppi í limum eikr; hann es verstr fogla.
‘But after that the bird will go westwards into the valley that people call Galabes. It [the valley] will raise itself into the highest mountain and up there the heron will nest on the branches of an oak; it is the worst of birds.
readings
[8] limum: ‘‑limv’ Hb
notes
[8] limum ‘the branches’: Emended in this edn from ms. ‘limv’ (refreshed). Use of the pl. form is suggested by Geoffrey’s ramos ‘branches’. Skj B (followed by Skald) emends to limi ‘branch’, perhaps in view of actual nesting behaviour on the part of herons, but LP: eikrlim notes limum as a possible alternative. Bret 1848-9 retains limu, apparently as an acc. pl., translating as kviste ‘branches’, but dat. would be required syntactically, since the context requires a point of rest, not motion towards. Merl 2012 would also retain, interpreting limu ‘branch’ as sg. for pl.; this dat. sg. form is however not attested.