GunnLeif Merl I 11VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 79 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 11)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 55.
Ok inn fróði halr frétti lofða,
hvat und vatni væri niðri.
Ok, es engi þat annarr vissi,
sagði fylki fleinþollr spǫkum:
Ok inn fróði halr frétti lofða, hvat væri niðri und vatni. Ok, es engi annarr vissi þat, sagði {fleinþollr} spǫkum fylki:
And the wise man asked people what was further down beneath the lake. And, when nobody else knew that, {the spear-fir} [WARRIOR = Merlin] said to the sagacious king:
Mss: Hb(51r) (Bret)
Editions: Skj AII, 23, Skj BII, 26, Skald II, 16, NN §3142; Bret 1848-9, II, 42 (Bret st. 79); Hb 1892-6, 278; Merl 2012, 137.
Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 108 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 141.559-65): Ammirans continuo rex super uerbis illius iussit uenire magos et coram Merlino sedere. Quibus ait Merlinus: ‘… Dicite michi quid sub fundamento latet …’ Expauescentes autem magi conticuerunt ‘Amazed at what he said, the king ordered the magicians to come and sit before Merlin. To them Merlin said: “… Tell me what is hidden beneath the foundations …” The magicians were cowed into silence’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 140). — [8] fleinþollr ‘the spear-fir [WARRIOR = Merlin]’: Cf. Sturl Hrafn 11/5II and Note. — [8] spǫkum ‘sagacious’: Kock (NN §3142, followed by Merl 2012) instead proposes that spǫkum be construed adverbially, i.e. ‘sagaciously’, parallel to skýrum, taken as ‘wisely’ in I 9/3: see Note there.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- 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 27 April 2024)
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Sturla Þórðarson, Hrafnsmál 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 736.
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