GunnLeif Merl II 22VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 22 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 22)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 155.
En ‘But’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
bjarnígull ‘the hedgehog’
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bjarnígull (noun m.): °(a sort of) hedgehog
of ‘’
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3. of (prep.): around, from; too
vélar ‘contrivances’
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1. vél (noun f.; °-ar; -ar/-ir): deceit, trick; device
leynir ‘will hide’
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1. leyna (verb): hide, conceal
hann ‘he’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
notes
[3] hann ‘he’: Omitted in Skald.
eplum ‘the apples’
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epli (noun n.; °-s; -): apple
Lundúnum ‘London’
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Lundúnir (noun f.): [London]
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
Grefr ‘will dig’
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grafa (verb): to dig, earth, bury
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
grundu ‘the ground’
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grund (noun f.): earth, land
gǫtur ‘passages’
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gata (noun f.): path, road
háligar ‘lofty’
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háligr (adj.): noble
notes
[6] háligar ‘lofty’: For this tentative translation, cf. Skj B. As noted by Finnur Jónsson in LP: hôligr, the meaning of this sparsely attested adj. in context is not entirely clear. It represents Gunnlaugr’s free addition to the account in DGB. Possibly the general meaning is ‘capacious, commodious’; possibly too, however, the reading has arisen in error for hagligar ‘artful’ (Fritzner: hagligr 1; LP: hagligr 1; ONP: hagligr), whose inclusion in the text would bring out the meaning of machinabitur ‘will devise, engineer’ more fully. For háligr and hagligr as variant readings see Hbreiðm Lv 1/3II.
fýstr ‘eager’
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fýsa (verb): desire, encourage
til ‘for’
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til (prep.): to
fengjar ‘booty’
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fengr (noun m.; °-jar/-s, dat. -/-i): loot
fláráðugt ‘The treacherous’
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fláráðugr (adj.)
dýr ‘beast’
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1. dýr (noun n.; °-s (spec.: dyʀiɴs KonrA 66⁴, etc., cf. Seip 1955 188-189); -): animal
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Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.176-7; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 37): Occultabit infra illam hericius poma sua et subterraneas uias machinabitur ‘The hedgehog will hide his apples there and devise pathways beneath the earth’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). Gunnlaugr plays up the notion of the hedgehog-king’s perfidy, on lines similar to his characterisation of the fox-king (II 27-45). — [7]: The idea of the hedgehog-king’s eagerness for plunder is another of Gunnlaugr’s additions.
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