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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl II 20VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 20 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 153.

Gunnlaugr LeifssonMerlínusspá II
192021

‘Þat Lundúnum         líkar illa;
eykr hon þrimr hlutum         þykka veggi.
Kostar hon keppa         við konungíðnir;
ferr suðr of fjall         frægð af smíði,
en* Tems of borg         tekr at geisa.

‘Þat líkar Lundúnum illa; hon eykr þykka veggi þrimr hlutum. Hon kostar keppa við konungíðnir; frægð af smíði ferr suðr of fjall, en* Tems tekr at geisa of borg.

‘That will displease London; she will increase her thick walls threefold. She will attempt to compete with the king’s exploits; news of the work will travel south over the mountain and the Thames will start to surge around the city.

Mss: Hb(49v) (Bret)

Readings: [5] keppa: keppir Hb    [7] ferr: ‘mer’ apparently corrected from ‘ferr’(?) during the process of refreshing Hb    [9] en* Tems: ‘eyr teins’ Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 14, Skj BII, 14, Skald II, 9; Bret 1848-9, II, 21-2 (Bret st. 20); Hb 1892-6, 273; Merl 2012, 85-6.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.174-6; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 37): Inuidebit ergo Lundonia et muros suos tripliciter augebit. Circuibit eam undique Tamensis fluuius, et rumor operis transcendet Alpes ‘London will be filled with envy and will increase its walls threefold. The Thames will encircle the city, and fame of this feat will travel beyond the Alps’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). London and Winchester were increasingly in competition in Geoffrey’s time as royal and administrative centres. — [5-6]: This idea is made more explicit than in DGB, as would have been necessary if st. 21 had originally preceded st. 20 (see Note to II 19 [All]). — [5] keppa ‘to compete’: Emended in Skj B (followed by Skald) from ms. keppir (refreshed) ‘[he] competes’. Merl 2012 retains keppir, evidently construing kostar as a noun but without explaining its sense and function. — [6] konungíðnir ‘the king’s exploits’: A hap. leg. Compounds with initial konung-, as distinct from konungs- and konunga-, are sparsely attested in Old Norse (ONP). — [7] fjall ‘the mountain’: The sg. fjall, as used in Merl, often corresponds to Lat. montes ‘mountains’ and other pl. forms in DGB (cf. II 39/1, II 41/2). — [9] en* Tems ‘and the Thames’: Emended in Bret 1848-9, followed by all subsequent eds, from ms. ‘eyr teins’ (refreshed).

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. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
  5. 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.
  6. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
  7. Reeve, Michael D., and Neil Wright. 2007. Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings of Britain. An Edition and Translation of De gestis Britonum [Historia regum Britanniae]. Woodbridge: Boydell.
  8. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
  9. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
  10. Internal references
  11. 2017, ‘ Unattributed, Breta saga’ 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=125> (accessed 29 March 2024)
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