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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl II 46VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 46 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 46)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 174.

Gunnlaugr LeifssonMerlínusspá II
454647

á ‘In’

(not checked:)
3. á (prep.): on, at

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hǫggormr ‘a serpent’

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hǫggormr (noun m.)

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sás ‘who’

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sás (conj.): the one who

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fyrðum ‘for men’

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2. fyrðr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -): man

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vill ‘will’

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vilja (verb): want, intend

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fjǫrspell ‘an end to life’

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fjǫrspell (noun n.): [death]

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gera ‘bring about’

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1. gera (verb): do, make

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Svá ‘so’

(not checked:)
svá (adv.): so, thus

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at ‘that’

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4. at (conj.): that

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of ‘around’

(not checked:)
3. of (prep.): around, from; too

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Lundúnir ‘London’

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Lundúnir (noun f.): [London]

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heiðar ‘of the heath’

(not checked:)
3. heiðr (noun f.; °heiðar, dat./acc heiði; heiðar): heath

kennings

hvalr heiðar
‘the whale of the heath ’
   = SNAKE

the whale of the heath → SNAKE
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hvalr ‘the whale’

(not checked:)
hvalr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-; -ir/-ar): whale

kennings

hvalr heiðar
‘the whale of the heath ’
   = SNAKE

the whale of the heath → SNAKE
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of ‘’

(not checked:)
ofdramb (noun n.)

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mælir ‘will measure’

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1. mæla (verb): speak, say

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ok ‘and’

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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also

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svá ‘so’

(not checked:)
svá (adv.): so, thus

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at ‘that’

(not checked:)
4. at (conj.): that

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urðar ‘of the cairn’

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urð (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -/-u; -ir): stones

kennings

sigðr urðar
‘the sickle of the cairn ’
   = SNAKE

the sickle of the cairn → SNAKE

notes

[10] sigðr urðar ‘the sickle of the cairn [SNAKE]’: A snake-kenning employing urð ‘cairn, pile of stones’ as an alternative to more common determinants such as words for ‘earth’ and ‘ground’; cf. Meissner 113-14.

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sigðr ‘the sickle’

(not checked:)
sigðr (noun m.; °; -ar): sickle

kennings

sigðr urðar
‘the sickle of the cairn ’
   = SNAKE

the sickle of the cairn → SNAKE

notes

[10] sigðr urðar ‘the sickle of the cairn [SNAKE]’: A snake-kenning employing urð ‘cairn, pile of stones’ as an alternative to more common determinants such as words for ‘earth’ and ‘ground’; cf. Meissner 113-14.

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umlíðendr ‘passers-by’

(not checked:)
1. umlíðandi (noun m.)

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alla ‘all’

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allr (adj.): all

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gleypir ‘will devour’

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gleypa (verb): swallow

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

Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 155.204-6; cf. Wright 1988, 110, prophecy 45): In diebus eius nascetur serpens, quae neci mortalium imminebit. Longitudine sua circuibit Lundoniam et quosque pretereuntes deuorabit ‘In its time will be born a snake which will threaten men with death. It will coil itself around London and devour all who pass by’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 154). — [7]: A trisyllabic line, like ll. 9 and 11. Kock suggests (NN §§2163B; Skald) filling out l. 7 with initial at, shifted from the previous line, to yield regular fornyrðislag metre. But this unnecessarily complicates the word order and obscures the sense. He further suggests filling out l. 9 with es hann, on the analogy of l. 5 and would regularise l. 11 into fornyrðislag by reading umlíðanda. But the occurrence of three short lines in the one stanza militates against emendation, and it may be that Gunnlaugr is foreshadowing the sequence of kviðuháttr stanzas from II 62 onwards that concludes Merl II.

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