GunnLeif Merl II 35^VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 35 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 35)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 165.

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

See Note to II 31 [All]. The verbs describing the action of the battle are chosen with regard to the base-words of each sword-kenning in ll. 1-4, creating a metaphorical congruence between them; thus ‘dogs’ growl and the ‘wolf’ bites. The substantivised adj. gramr ‘the cruel one’ (l. 5), taken here as a sword-heiti, is said to break men’s breasts, with the rib-cage possibly in mind. In ll. 7-10 the sword-kennings again show a congruence between base-word and verb; the ‘flame’ topples heads, represented as tall buildings being engulfed by fire, and, using similar imagery, ‘strongholds’ are smashed to pieces. It is possible that Gunnlaugr had mythological referents in mind when he wrote of ‘dogs’ (garmar, l. 2) and a wolf (freki, lit. ‘greedy one’ or ‘bold one’, l. 3), because Garmr is the name of a mythical dog in eddic poetry (Vsp 44/1, 58/1; cf. SnE 2005, 34, 59), while Freki is the name of one of Óðinn’s wolves (SnE 2005, 32; Þul Vargs 1/5^III; cf. Vsp 44/2). Gramr (l. 5) may also be reminiscent of the name of the hero Sigurðr’s sword (cf. Reg prose (NK 177) and Þul Sverða 1/5^III.  — [6]: This is the reading of the ms, here unrefreshed, reported by Bret 1848-9 and Hb 1892-6. The contraction for ‑ir is visible above and to the left of following b-. On grounds that remain unclear, Merl 2012 would read and retain the sg. form gollorhall, which, aside from being contrary to the ms. evidence, also disrupts the metre. For this type of kenning, compare Note to I 82/8. Merl 2012 incorrectly glosses gollor- as ‘heart’.