Note to GunnLeif Merl I 76^VIII

[3] blístrar ‘hisses’: The application of the verb blístra in context remains unclear. Attested senses include ‘make a strong blowing noise (of uncertain type), whistle, hiss, snort, sniff’ (so ONP: blístra); in the present context ‘hiss’ is tentatively selected, in view of Geoffrey’s allusion to snakes, which Gunnlaugr otherwise seems to have passed over, at least to judge from the present state of the text. Bret 1848-9 translates as hvisler ‘hisses’, followed by Skj B, while Merl 2012 has pfeift ‘whistles’. Meanwhile the idiom blístra í spor, glossed in ONP: blístra as ‘to sniff in somebody’s tracks [to no avail]’, ‘to whistle for somebody in vain’ (cf. also ÍF 8, 227 n. 3, ÍF 30, 38 n. 3), also needs to be taken into account. Conceivably Gunnlaugr could have in mind verses where the speaker is an intimidated or outwitted male lover (e.g. Bjbp Jóms^I and Steinarr Woman^III). In DGB, however, it is overweening behaviour on the part of women themselves that is under attack, not the allegorised pride of someone sniffing in vain in their tracks. Admittedly it is uncertain whether Gunnlaugr has resumed his close adherence to the Latin by this point or whether the rendering might be looser and more euphemistic (cf. Note on ll. 1-2); replebitur ‘will be filled’ is semantically remote from blístrar, though for another somewhat loose translation of replebitur see I 70/8. An alternative approach would see the problem as lying with a disruption of the text: blístrar could have arisen through error for original *miklask (3rd pers. sg. pres. ind. of miklask ‘be augmented, increased’), thus *metnuðr miklask í spor meyjum ‘pride is augmented in the maidens’ tracks’, where *miklask would loosely render replebitur. The noun metnuðr occurs in collocation with miklask in Anon Hsv^VII 30, as a variant reading for magnask (LP: mikla), and with þróask ‘swell’ in Hávm 79/4. In prose usage mikill ‘great’ and its superlative mesti ‘greatest’ are frequent collocates of metnuðr (ONP: metnuðr). For the idea of something springing up from the footsteps of a woman, cf. II 12/3-4.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
5. ÍF 30 = Sverris saga. Ed. Þorleifur Hauksson. 2007.
6. ÍF 8 = Vatnsdœla saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1939.
7. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
8. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
9. Internal references
10. Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Gropper 2007, ‘ Anonymous, Hugsvinnsmál’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 358-449. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1018> (accessed 27 April 2024)
11. Emily Lethbridge 2012, ‘ Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 954. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1122> (accessed 27 April 2024)
12. Russell Poole 2017, ‘ Steinarr, Poem about a woman’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 384. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1387> (accessed 27 April 2024)
13. Not published: do not cite ()