GunnLeif Merl II 55VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 55 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 55)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 181.
‘Hǫfugt es at heyra, þats of her gerisk;
lifa fénaðar fyrðar lífi.
Hyggja á þennan þrágjarnan heim
ok hvers konar hafna gœzku.
‘Hǫfugt es at heyra, þats gerisk of her; fyrðar lifa lífi fénaðar. Hyggja á þennan þrágjarnan heim ok hafna hvers konar gœzku.
‘It is grievous to hear what becomes of the people; men will live the life of beasts. They will think of this obdurate world and forsake goodness of every kind.
Mss: Hb(50v) (Bret)
Editions: Skj AII, 20, Skj BII, 21, Skald II, 13; Bret 1848-9, II, 35 (Bret st. 55); Hb 1892-6, 276; Merl 2012, 117.
Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 157.230-1; cf. Wright 1988, 111, prophecy 53): quia more pecudum lasciuient ‘because they will rut like animals’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 156). Gunnlaugr characteristically tones down this sexual reference. — [6] þrágjarnan heim ‘obdurate world’: The sole attestation of this adj. where it is not used in relation to persons (ONP: þrágjarn). — [8] hafna ‘forsake’: This verb occurs frequently in homiletic writings in the sense of Lat. contemnere ‘disregard, despise’, in relation to God or a virtuous life (ONP: hafna). — [8] gœzku ‘goodness’: The noun gœzka in this sense occurs frequently in homiletic writings (ONP: gǿzka).
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
- 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.
- Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
- 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.
- Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
- Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
- Internal references
- 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 25 April 2024)
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