GunnLeif Merl II 39VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 39 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 39)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 169.
En ‘But’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
fjalli ‘the mountain’
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1. fjall (noun n.): mountain
notes
[1] felsk ‘will hide’: Emended by Scheving (and adopted in Bret 1848-9 and Skj B) from ms. næst (refreshed). Cf. Note to II 36/9. The spelling of reflexive -sk as -st in Hb is exemplified by hleðst (= hlezk) in II 21/2 (Hb 1892-6, 273); thus change of ms. final <t> to <k> represents normalisation rather than emendation. Kock (NN §2163G; Skald), followed by Merl 2012, would emend the line to es í fjalli næst, with næst meaning ‘then’ (thus ‘is then in the mountain’), but this does not take DGB into account.
fádyggt ‘the untrustworthy’
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fádyggr (adj.)
hǫfuð ‘person’
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hǫfuð (noun n.; °-s; -): head
notes
[2] hǫfuð ‘the person’: Lit. ‘head’ (CVC: hǫfuð III). I.e. the fox.
hyggr ‘will intend’
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2. hyggja (verb): think, consider
fær ‘the sheep’
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fær (noun n.): sheep < færtǫpuðr (noun m.): [sheep-destroyer]
kennings
færtǫpuðr‘the sheep-destroyer ’
= FOX
the sheep-destroyer → FOX
notes
[3] færtǫpuðr ‘the sheep-destroyer [FOX]’: This is the hitherto unrecognised reading of Hb. With this kenning cf. II 28/8 týnir sauða ‘that destroyer of sheep [FOX]’ and Note there. For the agentive tǫpuðr see LP: tǫpuðr; Gunnlaugr uses its formative verb, tapa ‘kill’, in reference to the fox in II 28/7. Earlier eds read the ms. at this point as þær (or þar) jǫfuðr. Bret 1848-9 adopts þar jǫfuðr, translating the line as der tænker han ‘there he thinks’, which indicates that jǫfuðr is regarded as a heiti for ‘king’, like jǫfurr. Skj B and NN §2163G (cf. Skald) emend to þar fóa ‘there the vixen’ and þar jǫfurr (‘there the ruler’) respectively. Additionally NN §2163G (cf. Skald) transposes the word order in l. 4 in order to maintain correct alliteration. Merl 2012 proposes lofuðr ‘praised’, i.e. ‘the leader’, but without any supporting attestations for such a usage.
tǫpuðr ‘destroyer’
(not checked:)
tǫpuðr (noun m.): destroyer < færtǫpuðr (noun m.): [sheep-destroyer]
kennings
færtǫpuðr‘the sheep-destroyer ’
= FOX
the sheep-destroyer → FOX
notes
[3] færtǫpuðr ‘the sheep-destroyer [FOX]’: This is the hitherto unrecognised reading of Hb. With this kenning cf. II 28/8 týnir sauða ‘that destroyer of sheep [FOX]’ and Note there. For the agentive tǫpuðr see LP: tǫpuðr; Gunnlaugr uses its formative verb, tapa ‘kill’, in reference to the fox in II 28/7. Earlier eds read the ms. at this point as þær (or þar) jǫfuðr. Bret 1848-9 adopts þar jǫfuðr, translating the line as der tænker han ‘there he thinks’, which indicates that jǫfuðr is regarded as a heiti for ‘king’, like jǫfurr. Skj B and NN §2163G (cf. Skald) emend to þar fóa ‘there the vixen’ and þar jǫfurr (‘there the ruler’) respectively. Additionally NN §2163G (cf. Skald) transposes the word order in l. 4 in order to maintain correct alliteration. Merl 2012 proposes lofuðr ‘praised’, i.e. ‘the leader’, but without any supporting attestations for such a usage.
flærð ‘deception’
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flærð (noun f.): falsehood, deceit
notes
[4] flærð ‘deception’: Here Bret 1848-9 inexplicably reads kun, translated as sin Slægt ‘his family’, an error implicitly corrected in Hb 1892-6.
at ‘to’
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5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
œxla ‘add’
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2. œxla (verb): augment
En ‘And’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
villigǫltr ‘the wild boar’
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villigǫltr (noun m.)
vargi ‘the wolf’
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vargr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ar): wolf
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
birni ‘the bear’
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bjǫrn (noun m.; °bjarnar, dat. birni; birnir, acc. bjǫrnu): bear, Bjǫrn
segir ‘will tell’
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segja (verb): say, tell
sárliga ‘grievous’
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sárliga (adv.): bitterly, painfully
sorg ‘sorrow’
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sorg (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): sorrow, affliction
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
missu ‘loss’
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1. missa (noun f.; °-u): °tab, savn, afsavn
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Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 155.196-8; cf. Wright 1988, 109-10, prophecies 42 and 43): et infra cauernas montium delitebit. Aper ergo illusus requiret lupum et ursum ut ei amissa membra restituant ‘and hide in the mountain-caves. The tricked boar will demand that the wolf and bear restore its lost limbs’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 154).
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