GunnLeif Merl I 12VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 80 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 12)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 56.
Sofa ‘sleep’
(not checked:)
sofa (verb): sleep
þar ‘there’
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þar (adv.): there
í ‘in’
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í (prep.): in, into
dimmu ‘the dark’
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dimmr (adj.; °superl. -astr): dark
djúpi ‘depth’
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djúp (noun n.; °-s; dat. -um): depth, the deep
niðri ‘down’
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niðri (adv.): below
tvennir ‘Two’
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tvennr (adj.): two
ormar ‘snakes’
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ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent
tveim ‘two’
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tveir (num. cardinal): two
hellum ‘caves’
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1. hella (noun f.; °-u; -ur): cave, slab
í ‘in’
(not checked:)
í (prep.): in, into
Þeir ‘Those’
kennings
Þeir lindar lands‘Those girdles of the land ’
= SNAKES
Those girdles of the land → SNAKES
eru ‘are’
(not checked:)
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
lindar ‘girdles’
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1. lindi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): belt, girdle
kennings
Þeir lindar lands‘Those girdles of the land ’
= SNAKES
Those girdles of the land → SNAKES
lands ‘of the land’
(not checked:)
land (noun n.; °-s; *-): land
kennings
Þeir lindar lands‘Those girdles of the land ’
= SNAKES
Those girdles of the land → SNAKES
ólíkir ‘unlike’
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ólíkr (adj.): unlike
sék ‘I see’
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2. sjá (verb): see
rauða ‘a red’
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rauðr (adj.; °compar. -ari): red
kennings
rauða ok hvíta seil rás.‘a red and a white rope of the earth. ’
= SNAKE
a red and a white rope of the earth. → SNAKE
seil ‘rope’
(not checked:)
seil (noun f.; °; dat. -um): strap
kennings
rauða ok hvíta seil rás.‘a red and a white rope of the earth. ’
= SNAKE
a red and a white rope of the earth. → SNAKE
notes
[7-8] seil rás ‘a rope of the earth [SNAKE]’: This, together with lindar lands ‘girdles of the land’ (ll. 5-6), is the first of several snake-kennings Gunnlaugr employs that implicitly compare a snake to a rope, thong, girdle or fetter. In the analysis of Meissner 114-15, the defining phrase ‘of the land’ or similar used in association with these base-words might mean either ‘living on the ground’ or ‘encircling the earth’, in the latter case with their basis in the story of the Miðgarðsormr or World Serpent.
rás ‘of the earth’
(not checked:)
4. rá (noun n.): [earth]
kennings
rauða ok hvíta seil rás.‘a red and a white rope of the earth. ’
= SNAKE
a red and a white rope of the earth. → SNAKE
notes
[7-8] seil rás ‘a rope of the earth [SNAKE]’: This, together with lindar lands ‘girdles of the land’ (ll. 5-6), is the first of several snake-kennings Gunnlaugr employs that implicitly compare a snake to a rope, thong, girdle or fetter. In the analysis of Meissner 114-15, the defining phrase ‘of the land’ or similar used in association with these base-words might mean either ‘living on the ground’ or ‘encircling the earth’, in the latter case with their basis in the story of the Miðgarðsormr or World Serpent. — [8] rás ‘of the earth’: This heiti for ‘land, earth’ occurs uniquely in Merl. Cf. I 21/2 and LP: rá. The word is little-known in Icelandic (CVC: rá n. ‘landmark’) and not attested by Fritzner or ONP, though it occurs in Modern Norwegian and Swedish dialects in the sense ‘boundary’ (AEW: rá). Possibly Gunnlaugr knew it from no longer extant skaldic poems.
rás ‘of the earth’
(not checked:)
4. rá (noun n.): [earth]
kennings
rauða ok hvíta seil rás.‘a red and a white rope of the earth. ’
= SNAKE
a red and a white rope of the earth. → SNAKE
notes
[7-8] seil rás ‘a rope of the earth [SNAKE]’: This, together with lindar lands ‘girdles of the land’ (ll. 5-6), is the first of several snake-kennings Gunnlaugr employs that implicitly compare a snake to a rope, thong, girdle or fetter. In the analysis of Meissner 114-15, the defining phrase ‘of the land’ or similar used in association with these base-words might mean either ‘living on the ground’ or ‘encircling the earth’, in the latter case with their basis in the story of the Miðgarðsormr or World Serpent. — [8] rás ‘of the earth’: This heiti for ‘land, earth’ occurs uniquely in Merl. Cf. I 21/2 and LP: rá. The word is little-known in Icelandic (CVC: rá n. ‘landmark’) and not attested by Fritzner or ONP, though it occurs in Modern Norwegian and Swedish dialects in the sense ‘boundary’ (AEW: rá). Possibly Gunnlaugr knew it from no longer extant skaldic poems.
ok ‘and’
(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
kennings
rauða ok hvíta seil rás.‘a red and a white rope of the earth. ’
= SNAKE
a red and a white rope of the earth. → SNAKE
hvíta ‘a white’
(not checked:)
hvítr (adj.; °-an; -ari, -astr): white
kennings
rauða ok hvíta seil rás.‘a red and a white rope of the earth. ’
= SNAKE
a red and a white rope of the earth. → SNAKE
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cf. DGB 108 and 111 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 141.573-4, cf. 145.25-6): et uidebis in fundo duos concauos lapides et in illis duos dracones dormientes … quorum unus erat albus et alius rubeus ‘and at the bottom you will see two hollow rocks with two dragons asleep in them …, one white, one red’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 140, cf. 144). Gunnlaugr interprets the ‘hollow rocks’ as caves. The decasyllabic version of the Anglo-Norman Verse Prophecies of Merlin also uses this interpretation (Blacker 2005, 80), but probably this agreement arises through independent anticipation of Prophecy 1 (see I 21 Note to [All]).
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