GunnLeif Merl II 8^VIII

‘Vilja hǫlðar         hylja brunna,
þás flestum hal         fjǫrspell gera.
En, þats lýðir         á lǫg bera,
alt verðr at ǫðru,         en áðr séi:
grund at grjóti,         grjót at vatni,
viðr at ǫsku,         en af ǫsku vatn.

‘Hǫlðar vilja hylja brunna, þás gera flestum hal fjǫrspell. En, þats lýðir bera á lǫg, verðr alt at ǫðru, en áðr séi: grund at grjóti, grjót at vatni, viðr at ǫsku, en vatn af ǫsku.

‘Men will want to cover up the springs that cause death for most people. But all that men carry to the water will turn to something other than it was previously: earth to stone, stone to water, wood to ash, and water from ash.

Mss: Hb(49r) (Bret)

Readings: [5] þats: þat Hb    [11] ǫsku: ǫsk Hb    [12] af: at Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 11-12, Skj BII, 12, Skald II, 7; Bret 1848-9, II, 16-17 (Bret st. 8); Hb 1892-6, 272; Merl 2012, 72-3.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.151-5; cf. Wright 1988, 107, prophecy 31): Tantam ingluuiem uitare uolentes, diuersis tegumentis eam occultare nitentur. Quaecunque ergo moles superposita fuerit formam alterius corporis recipiet. Terra namque in lapides, lapides in limpham, lignum in cineres, cinis in aquam, si superiecta fuerint, uertentur ‘To escape this menace, they will try to hide it under various things. Whatever is placed upon it will assume a different form. If earth is put over the spring, it will become stones, stones become water, wood become ash and ash become water’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 150). — [5] þats ‘that’: Lit. ‘that which’. Emended in Skj B (followed by Skald and Merl 2012, the latter reading er) from ms. þat (refreshed). — [10] vatni ‘water’: Viði ‘wood’ might be expected, to preserve the pattern, but the reading limpham ‘water’ rather than lignem ‘wood’ is the dominant one in the witnesses of DGB (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151; cf. Wright 1988, 107) and is no doubt what stood in Gunnlaugr’s source. — [12] af ‘from’: Emended in Bret 1848-9 (followed by subsequent eds) from ms. at (not refreshed), to improve the logic of the list.

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. 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.
5. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
6. 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.
7. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
8. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
9. Internal references
10. 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 2 May 2024)