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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl II 24VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 24 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 24)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 157.

Gunnlaugr LeifssonMerlínusspá II
232425

Kemr ‘will come’

(not checked:)
koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come

notes

[1, 3]: De Vries (1964-7, II, 75 n. 179) compares Vsp 66/2.

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ór ‘From’

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3. ór (prep.): out of

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skógi ‘the forest’

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skógr (noun m.; °-ar/-s, dat. -i; -ar): forest

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Kalatérío ‘of Calaterium’

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fogl ‘a bird’

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fugl (noun m.): bird

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fljúgandi ‘flying’

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fljúga (verb): fly

[3] fljúgandi: fljúganda Hb

notes

[1, 3]: De Vries (1964-7, II, 75 n. 179) compares Vsp 66/2. — [3] fljúgandi ‘flying’: Emended from ms. fljúganda (refreshed) in Bret 1848-9, followed by subsequent eds.

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fljúgandi ‘flying’

(not checked:)
fljúga (verb): fly

[3] fljúgandi: fljúganda Hb

notes

[1, 3]: De Vries (1964-7, II, 75 n. 179) compares Vsp 66/2. — [3] fljúgandi ‘flying’: Emended from ms. fljúganda (refreshed) in Bret 1848-9, followed by subsequent eds.

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sás ‘that’

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sás (conj.): the one who

notes

[4] sás villir fira ‘that will lead men astray’: This is Gunnlaugr’s amplification of DGB, perhaps in allusion to the notion of the heron seen in Hávm 13/1-3 (NK 19): Óminnis hegri heitir, | sá er yfir ǫlðrom þrumir, | hann stelr geði guma ‘He is called the heron of forgetfulness, who hovers over the ale-feasts; he steals the wits of men’. How the heron gained this reputation is unclear (Evans 1986, 80). Dronke (1984, 54-5) notes a traditional association of this bird with vomiting and flapping around as if drunk, but it is hard to see why such behaviours would ‘lead men astray’, as required by the context in Hávm and Merl. Invective against drunkenness on Gunnlaugr’s part is seen again in II 56-7. In modern times the Black-crowned Night Heron (nátthegri, Nycticorax nycticorax) is an occasional visitor and resident in Iceland (Gunnlaugur Pétursson 2006).

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fira ‘men’

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firar (noun m.): men

notes

[4] sás villir fira ‘that will lead men astray’: This is Gunnlaugr’s amplification of DGB, perhaps in allusion to the notion of the heron seen in Hávm 13/1-3 (NK 19): Óminnis hegri heitir, | sá er yfir ǫlðrom þrumir, | hann stelr geði guma ‘He is called the heron of forgetfulness, who hovers over the ale-feasts; he steals the wits of men’. How the heron gained this reputation is unclear (Evans 1986, 80). Dronke (1984, 54-5) notes a traditional association of this bird with vomiting and flapping around as if drunk, but it is hard to see why such behaviours would ‘lead men astray’, as required by the context in Hávm and Merl. Invective against drunkenness on Gunnlaugr’s part is seen again in II 56-7. In modern times the Black-crowned Night Heron (nátthegri, Nycticorax nycticorax) is an occasional visitor and resident in Iceland (Gunnlaugur Pétursson 2006).

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villir ‘will lead’

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2. villa (verb): lead astray, lead

notes

[4] sás villir fira ‘that will lead men astray’: This is Gunnlaugr’s amplification of DGB, perhaps in allusion to the notion of the heron seen in Hávm 13/1-3 (NK 19): Óminnis hegri heitir, | sá er yfir ǫlðrom þrumir, | hann stelr geði guma ‘He is called the heron of forgetfulness, who hovers over the ale-feasts; he steals the wits of men’. How the heron gained this reputation is unclear (Evans 1986, 80). Dronke (1984, 54-5) notes a traditional association of this bird with vomiting and flapping around as if drunk, but it is hard to see why such behaviours would ‘lead men astray’, as required by the context in Hávm and Merl. Invective against drunkenness on Gunnlaugr’s part is seen again in II 56-7. In modern times the Black-crowned Night Heron (nátthegri, Nycticorax nycticorax) is an occasional visitor and resident in Iceland (Gunnlaugur Pétursson 2006).

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Flýgr ‘It will fly’

(not checked:)
fljúga (verb): fly

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of ‘at’

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3. of (prep.): around, from; too

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nýsir ‘spy’

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nýsa (verb)

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gǫrla ‘thoroughly’

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gǫrla (adv.): quite, fully

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kallar ‘will call’

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kalla (verb): call

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hegri ‘the heron’

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hegri (noun m.)

[7] hegri: hegra Hb

notes

[7] hegri ‘the heron’: Emended from ms. hegra (refreshed) in Bret 1848-9, followed by Skj B and Skald. This is a rarely attested word in Old Norse; outside Merl there are only two attestations in poetry (LP: hegri) and in all four prose citations in ONP it is used as a nickname rather than a common noun; of the two men thus designated, one is a C12th Norwegian and the other an early settler in Iceland. Merl 2012 retains hegra without explanation of this form.

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hvern ‘every’

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2. hverr (pron.): who, whom, each, every

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fogl ‘bird’

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fugl (noun m.): bird

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til ‘to’

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til (prep.): to

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sín ‘itself’

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sik (pron.; °gen. sín, dat. sér): (refl. pron.)

[8] sín: þín Hb

notes

[8] sín ‘itself’: Emended from ms. þín (refreshed) in Bret 1848-9, followed by subsequent eds.

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um ‘over’

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1. um (prep.): about, around

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tvívetri ‘a two-year span’

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tvívetri (noun n.)

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tálráð ‘treachery’

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tálráð (noun n.)

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samit ‘devised’

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2. sama (verb): befit

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Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.181-3; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 39): Post haec ex Calaterio nemore procedet ardea, quae insulam per biennium circumuolabit. Nocturno clamore conuocabit uolatilia et omne genus uolucrum associabit sibi ‘Afterwards a heron will emerge from the forest of Calaterium and will circle the island for two years. It will summon the birds of the air with its cry at night and assemble all their species’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). Gunnlaugr partially rationalises the prophecy of a charismatic new leader and adds the notion of his treachery. The forest of Calaterium is unidentified but evidently located in Albania (Scotland), as appears from DGB III (Reeve and Wright 2007, 50-1; cf. Tatlock 1950, 17-18). — [6]: The idea of the heron acting as a spy (or scout?) is introduced by Gunnlaugr.

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