Note to GunnLeif Merl II 12^VIII

[8] verþjóðu ‘the sea-people’: This is the meaning to be inferred from DGB (so Skj B) but, as pointed out in Bret 1848-9, where instances are given, the cpd would normally be understood as ‘mankind’, with first element verr ‘man’. Kock (NN §95; cf. NN §§607 and 2992A, followed by Merl 2012) rejects the sense ‘sea-people’ out of hand, listing parallel formations in West Germanic poetry, but overlooks DGB and also Merl II 23/3, where the context requires that verþjóðu be glossed as ‘sea-people’ (cf. Finnur Jónsson 1924a, 329-30). The reference, in both Geoffrey and Gunnlaugr, is presumably to the exposure of the Flemish coastal counties, which lay below sea level, to frequent inundations from the onset of the so-called Great Reclamation Period in the C12th (Augustyn 1995, 12-13). Many of the Flemish mercenaries came from this region (Oksanen 2008, 265). In choosing the heiti ver, conventionally used to mean ‘sea’ in poetry but lit. ‘hunting or fishing ground’ (Fritzner: ver 1), Gunnlaugr may be rationalising Geoffrey’s talk of ‘submarine’ people. A Flemish coastal fishing industry flourished at his time, with backing from the larger towns and ports (Tys and Pieters 2009, 91‑4).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Finnur Jónsson. 1924a. ‘Skjaldekvadenes forståelse’. ANF 40, 320-31.
5. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
6. Augustyn, Beatrijs. 1995. ‘De evolutie van het duinecosysteem in Vlaanderen in de Middeleeuwen: antropogene factoren versus zeespiegelrijzingstheorie’. Historisch-Geografisch Tijdschrift 13, 9-19. Slightly modified English version available at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/100070.pdf.
7. Oksanen, Eljas. 2008. ‘The Anglo-Flemish Treaties and Flemish Soldiers in England 1101-1163’. In France 2008, 261-74.
8. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.