Note to GunnLeif Merl I 92^VIII

[1] mǫnnum kapps ‘to men of bravery’: That is to say, ‘to warriors’. Bret 1848-9, Skj and Skald retain this ms. reading, but a word equivalent in sense to *kápumǫnnum ‘cowled men’ (for which see Fritzner, ONP: kápumaðr) would be expected, rendering cucullati ‘those with cowls’, i.e. ‘monks’ (Hb 1892-6, cxii; cf. Skj B); cf. the Anglo-Norman decasyllabic rendering: Mungiu orra le cri des cuvelez ‘Montgieu will hear the cries of the cowled ones’ (Blacker 2005, 43). Bret 1848-9 translates accordingly without altering the text: de kutteklædte Mænd ‘the cowl-clad men’, i.e. ‘monks’, followed by Skj B. The word kápumǫnnum is introduced into the text by emendation in Merl 2012, but this is precluded by metrical considerations, since it would yield a hypermetrical málaháttr line and the metre of Merl I is otherwise regular. Alternatively, Gunnlaugr might be imagined as having first written lines that included the word kápumǫnnum or a synonym thereof in a different metrical context but then, whether as a result of his own self-censorship or advice from his mentors, altering it to the conveniently similar kapps mǫnnum in order to tone down the notion of forced marriages of monks into a scenario of warriors being offered marriage. The explanation that these marriages arise because the number of widows is so large could be seen as part of this revision. It is unclear whether he intends the kall ‘cry’ to be attributed to men or widows; the punctuation adopted in this edn preserves the logic of DGB, where it is the men.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
5. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
6. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
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. Blacker, Jean, ed. 2005. ‘The Anglo-Norman Verse Prophecies of Merlin’. Arthuriana 15, 1-125.
9. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
10. Internal references
11. Russell Poole 2017, ‘ Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1223> (accessed 25 April 2024)