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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl I 3VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 71 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 50.

Gunnlaugr LeifssonMerlínusspá I
234

Ok láð þeira         með liði miklu
sjǫlf eignaðisk         í sǫgum fornum.
Ok, þars kristnir         kœnir byggja,
áðr tók heiðin þjóð         hallir smíða.

Ok í fornum sǫgum eignaðisk sjǫlf láð þeira með miklu liði. Ok, þars kœnir kristnir byggja, tók heiðin þjóð áðr smíða hallir.

And according to the ancient stories, they themselves took possession of their land with a great army. And where wise Christians settle, heathen people had previously taken to constructing halls.

Mss: Hb(50v) (Bret)

Readings: [6] kœnir: ‘kiænir’ Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 22, Skj BII, 24, Skald II, 15; Bret 1848-9, II, 39-40 (Bret st. 71); Hb 1892-6, 277; Merl 2012, 131.

Notes: [3] sjǫlf ‘they themselves’: The adj. sjǫlf is f. nom. sg. referring back to in enska þjóð ‘the English people’ in l. 5 of the previous stanza. — [6] kœnir ‘wise’: This is an emendation of the unrefreshed ms. reading ‘kiænir’, first suggested in Bret 1848-9 and adopted by all subsequent eds, including the present one. Possibly, however, it has supplanted an original kirkjur ‘churches’, with byggja used in the sense of ‘occupy, frequent’ (cf. Fritzner: byggja 2; ONP: byggja 3), which would yield a noun contrastive with hallir ‘halls’. Cf. Merl 23/2.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
  4. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
  5. 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.
  6. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
  7. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
  8. Internal references
  9. 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 28 March 2024)
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