Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 170 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 102)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 133.
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1. verða (verb): become, be
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2. inn (art.): the
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enskr (adj.): English
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1. ætt (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): family
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fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.
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stund (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): time, hour
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veldi (noun n.): realm
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2. missa (verb): lose, lack
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nú (adv.): now
[4] nú es valskr konungr ‘now there is a French king’: As noted in Merl 2012, the reference is to the Plantagenet dynasty of the House of Anjou, though which of the Angevin kings, Henry II (r. 1154-89), Richard I (r. 1189-99) and John (r. 1199-1216), Gunnlaugr had in mind is uncertain.
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
[4] nú es valskr konungr ‘now there is a French king’: As noted in Merl 2012, the reference is to the Plantagenet dynasty of the House of Anjou, though which of the Angevin kings, Henry II (r. 1154-89), Richard I (r. 1189-99) and John (r. 1199-1216), Gunnlaugr had in mind is uncertain.
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valskr (adj.): foreign, French
[4] nú es valskr konungr ‘now there is a French king’: As noted in Merl 2012, the reference is to the Plantagenet dynasty of the House of Anjou, though which of the Angevin kings, Henry II (r. 1154-89), Richard I (r. 1189-99) and John (r. 1199-1216), Gunnlaugr had in mind is uncertain.
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konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
[4] nú es valskr konungr ‘now there is a French king’: As noted in Merl 2012, the reference is to the Plantagenet dynasty of the House of Anjou, though which of the Angevin kings, Henry II (r. 1154-89), Richard I (r. 1189-99) and John (r. 1199-1216), Gunnlaugr had in mind is uncertain.
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þó (adv.): though
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þeygi (adv.): not at all
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2. enn (adv.): still, yet, again
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
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1. háttr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. hætti; hættir, acc. háttu): behaviour, measure, verse-form
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liða (verb): travel
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af (prep.): from
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2. láð (noun n.): earth, land
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né (conj.): nor
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lýðr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -; -ir): one of the people
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Breti (noun m.; °; -ar): Briton
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hvass (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): keen, sharp
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mækir (noun m.): sword
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hjarl (noun n.): land
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eigna (verb; °-að-): acquire
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Gunnlaugr appears to refer to two developments that might be seen as prophesied by Merlin and due for fulfilment: 1) the obliteration of the English race and culture from Britain, 2) the conquest of Wales by the descendants of the Norman dynasty. Although a full conquest of Wales did not occur until some decades after the turn of the thirteenth century, i.e. after the probable date of composition of Merl, such a development must have seemed inevitable and indeed imminent from much earlier (Thomas 2008, 62-3).
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