GunnLeif Merl II 65^VIII

Skrjúpt es líf         lýða barna
und hreggská         heiðar tjaldi.
En lífs lau*n         líða eigi
góð eða ill         gumna mengis.

Skrjúpt es líf {barna lýða} und {hreggská tjaldi heiðar}. En lau*n lífs {mengis gumna}, góð eða ill, líða eigi.

Brittle is the life {of the children of men} [MANKIND] under {the storm-worn awning of heaven} [SKY/HEAVEN]. But the rewards, good or evil, of the life {of the multitude of men} [MANKIND] do not pass away.

Mss: Hb(50v) (Bret)

Readings: [4] heiðar: hliðar corrected from heiðar during the process of refreshing Hb    [5] lau*n: lausn Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 21, Skj BII, 23, Skald II, 14; Bret 1848-9, II, 37-8 (Bret st. 65); Hb 1892-6, 277; Merl 2012, 124.

Notes: [1] skrjúpt ‘brittle’: The adj. skrjúpr is attested in poetry only here and in Anon (FoGT) 13/2^III, along with three prose attestations as a nickname (ONP: skrjúpr). The sense appears to be ‘brittle, weak, lacking resilience, incapable of enduring’ (CVC, LP: skrjúpr). — [4] heiðar ‘of heaven’: The reading adopted in this edn derives from Bret 1848-9 (followed by Skj B), where it is restored from ms. hliðar (refreshed); letter <e> is visible beneath refreshed <l>. The erroneous reading hliðar is retained (without reference to the ms.) in Skald, presumably interpreted as hlíðar ‘of the hill-slope’, and this is followed in Merl 2012, which glosses as Abhangs ‘of the incline’. — [5] lau*n ‘rewards’: Emended from ms. lausn (not refreshed) in Bret 1848-9, followed by subsequent eds.

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. 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.
5. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
6. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
7. 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.
8. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
9. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
10. Internal references
11. 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 26 April 2024)
12. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 13’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 586.