GunnLeif Merl II 28^VIII

‘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.

Mss: Hb(49v-50r) (Bret)

Readings: [3] erut: erat Hb

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

Notes: [All]: 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. — [3] erut ‘are not’: Emended from ms. erat (refreshed) in Bret 1848-9 (eru-at) and apparently independently by Kock (NN §2741; Skald), followed by Merl 2012. Retained in Skj B, but the sg. verb does not agree with the immediately following pl. adj. and pron. Contrast the cases mentioned in the Note to I 36/9‑12. — [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).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
6. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
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. 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.
9. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
10. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
11. Internal references
12. 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 3 May 2024)
13. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Svartr á Hofstöðum, Skaufhala bálkr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 948. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3349> (accessed 3 May 2024)