Note to GunnLeif Merl I 49VIII
[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).
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Feeney, D. C. 1986. ‘Stat Magni Nominis Umbra. Lucan on the Greatness of Pompeius Magnus’. Classical Quarterly 36, 239-43.
- Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
- Stenton, F. M. 1971. Anglo-Saxon England. 3rd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.