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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl II 28VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 28 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 28)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 160.

Gunnlaugr LeifssonMerlínusspá II
272829

text and translation

‘Vaxa þar allir         upp brœðr saman;
erut gjarnir þeir         gótt at vinna.
Refr á móður         ræðr grimmliga;
tapar henni sá         týnir sauða;
es grenbúi         gjarn á ríki.

‘Allir brœðr vaxa þar upp saman; þeir erut gjarnir at vinna gótt. Refr ræðr grimmliga á móður; {sá týnir sauða} tapar henni; {grenbúi} es gjarn á ríki.
 
‘‘The brothers will all grow up together there; they will not be eager to do good. The fox will attack its mother savagely; that destroyer of sheep [FOX] will kill her; the lair-dweller [FOX] will be eager for power.

notes and context

Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 153.189; cf. Wright 1988, 109, prophecy 41): Deuorabit uulpes matrem ‘The fox will devour its mother’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 152). Gunnlaugr considerably amplifies Geoffrey’s text. — [8]: Attested kennings for ‘fox’ are few (Meissner 111), but the three that occur in this poem (see l. 9 here and II 39/3) have a parallel in Svart Skauf, where there are a number of nickname-like compounds for ‘fox’ and ‘vixen’, together with two kennings, grenlægja ‘the lair-lier [VIXEN]’ (4/2, 5/1) and sauðbítr ‘the sheep-biter [FOX]’ (18/6). — [9]: The kenning grenbúi ‘lair-dweller [FOX]’ is a hap. leg.; see Note to l. 8. The noun gren ‘lair’ was most commonly associated with foxes and the expression sem melrakka í greni ‘like a fox in its lair’ occurs frequently in relation to a humiliating capture or death (ONP: gren).

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínússpá I 28: AII, 15, BII, 16, Skald II, 10, NN §2741; Bret 1848-9, II, 25-6 (Bret st. 28); Hb 1892-6, 274; Merl 2012, 92-3.

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