GunnLeif Merl I 10VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 78 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 55.
Þat kvað valda verdags hǫtuðr,
at þar undir vas ólítit vatn.
Bauð grund grafa gumna stjóri;
reynisk spaklig spámanns saga.
{Hǫtuðr {verdags}} kvað þat valda, at ólítit vatn vas þar undir. {Stjóri gumna} bauð grafa grund; saga spámanns reynisk spaklig.
{The hater {of the sea-day}} [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Merlin] said the cause was that a not small lake lay underneath. {The commander of men} [RULER = Vortigern] ordered the ground to be dug up; the prophet’s account turns out to be percipient.
Mss: Hb(51r) (Bret)
Editions: Skj AII, 23, Skj BII, 26, Skald II, 16; Bret 1848-9, II, 42 (Bret st. 78); Hb 1892-6, 277-8; Merl 2012, 136-7.
Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 108 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 141.565-9): ‘Tunc ait Merlinus, qui et Ambrosius dicebatur: “Domine mi rex, uoca operarios tuos et iube fodere terram, et inuenies stagnum sub ea quod turrim stare non permittit.” Quod cum factum fuisset, repertum est stagnum sub terra, quod eam instabilem fecerat’ ‘Then Merlinus, who was also called Ambrosius, said, “My lord King, call your workmen and set them digging up the ground; you will find a pool beneath it which prevents the tower from standing.” This was done and a pool was discovered beneath the ground, which made it unstable’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 140). — [6]: De Vries (1964-7, II, 75 n. 181) compares Gríp 1/6. — [7] reynisk ‘turns out’: Pres. historic tense. See Note to I 15/5.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
- 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.
- 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 3 May 2024)
- Not published: do not cite ()
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