GunnLeif Merl I 20VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 88 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 61.
Grét gumna vinr, es hann greiða bað
þengill gǫfugr þessa hegju.
Ok eptir þat aldar snytrir
rǫkstælta spá rekkum sagði.
Vinr gumna grét, es gǫfugr þengill bað hann greiða þessa hegju. Ok eptir þat sagði {snytrir aldar} rekkum rǫkstælta spá.
The friend of men wept when the noble king bade him explain this happening. And after that {the teacher of the people} [PROPHET = Merlin] spoke well-grounded prophecy to the men.
Mss: Hb(51r) (Bret)
Editions: Skj AII, 24, Skj BII, 28, Skald II, 17; Bret 1848-9, II, 45-6 (Bret st. 88); Hb 1892-6, 278; Merl 2012, 143.
Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 111 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 145.32-3): Mox ille, in fletum erumpens, spiritum hausit prophetiae et ait ‘He burst into tears and was inspired to prophesy thus’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 144). Gunnlaugr’s added characterisations of the prophet (‘teacher of the people’) and the prophecy (‘well-grounded’) may be part of his determined advocacy of the material’s veracity, seen most explicitly in I 95‑102. — [7] rǫkstælta spá ‘well-grounded prophecy’: Cf. LP: rǫkstæltr; this would mean literally ‘prophecy reinforced by signs’; cf. Note to II 3/7.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- 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 25 April 2024)
CloseStanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.