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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl II 49VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 49 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 49)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 176.

Gunnlaugr LeifssonMerlínusspá II
484950

‘Þeir flest taka         fljóða sveita
hervígssamir         ok hóra mengi.
Ok sameignar         sín*ar kvánir
gera geirvanir;         geigr es í slíku.’

‘Hervígssamir taka þeir flest sveita fljóða ok mengi hóra. Ok geirvanir gera kvánir sín*ar sameignar; geigr es í slíku.’

‘Belligerent, they will take most bands of women and a multitude of whores. And the spear-accustomed ones will have their women in common; peril lies in that.’

Mss: Hb(50r) (Bret)

Readings: [6] sín*ar: sinnar Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 19, Skj BII, 20, Skald II, 13, NN §99; Bret 1848-9, II, 33 (Bret st. 49); Hb 1892-6, 276; Merl 2012, 112-13.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 157.229-30; cf. Wright 1988, 111, prophecy 53): Fetore narium mulieres corrumpent et proprias communes facient ‘By the stench of their nostrils they will corrupt women and make the women of individual men into women shared in common’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 156). Gunnlaugr adds the final summative statement of moral condemnation. — [3] hervígssamir ‘belligerent’: This edn follows Kock (NN §99; Skald; cf. Merl 2012), who notes that ms. hervígssamir (a hap. leg.) makes good sense, has close analogues in formation and meaning and is in parallel structure with geirvanir ‘the spear-accustomed ones’ in l. 7. Earlier eds deviate from the ms. reading. Bret 1848-9 has hervígs ramir, translated as de kampstærke Mænd ‘the battle-strong men’. Given that ramir is not signalled as an emendation, perhaps Jón Sigurðsson read <r> where other eds have seen <s>, but occasionally he emends tacitly (cf. II 39/4). In Skj B the line is further emended to rammir horvegs ‘strong of snot-way [NOSTRIL]’, explained as meaning med stinkende næsebor ‘with stinking nostrils’, so as to enhance the correspondence with DGB. The ms. reading appears in LP (LP: hervíg) but with the comment that it is erroneous. Finnur’s emendation is ingenious, and possibly right, despite Kock’s strictures (made in ignorance of DGB), but it would be characteristic of Gunnlaugr to tone down such offensive material. Cf. II 50/5-6. — [5] sameignar ‘in common’: Merl 2012 appears to posit a less overtly sexual reference, but Gunnlaugr is simply translating DGB at this point. — [6] sín*ar ‘their’: Emended in Skj B (followed by Skald, Merl 2012 and this edn) from ms. sinnar (refreshed).

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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  6. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
  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 29 March 2024)
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