GunnLeif Merl I 30VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 98 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 30)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 68.
Líðr ‘will move’
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1. líða (verb): move, glide
byskups ‘The bishop’s’
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1. byskup (noun m.; °-s/-(cf. [$489$]), dat. -i/-; -ar): bishop
stóll ‘seat’
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1. stóll (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-; -ar): seat, throne
Lundúnum ‘London’
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Lundúnir (noun f.): [London]
ór ‘from’
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3. ór (prep.): out of
í ‘to’
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í (prep.): in, into
ina ‘the’
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2. inn (art.): the
breiðu ‘broad’
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breiðr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): broad, wide
borg ‘bury’
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borg (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -; -ir): city, stronghold < Kantaraborg (noun f.)
notes
[4] Kantaraborg ‘Canterbury’: Lit. ‘city of the Kentish people’. Kantaraborg is the normal Old Norse name for Canterbury, here as elsewhere with the elements reversed in order to conform to the requirements of alliteration; cf. Ótt Hfl 10/4I and Note there.
Kantara ‘Canter’
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kantari (noun m.): Kent, Canter(-bury) < Kantaraborg (noun f.)
notes
[4] Kantaraborg ‘Canterbury’: Lit. ‘city of the Kentish people’. Kantaraborg is the normal Old Norse name for Canterbury, here as elsewhere with the elements reversed in order to conform to the requirements of alliteration; cf. Ótt Hfl 10/4I and Note there.
Ok ‘And’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
langa ‘the long-held’
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langr (adj.; °compar. lengri, superl. lengstr): long
tígn ‘distinction of’
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tígn (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): honour
Légíónum ‘Caerleon’
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Legíónum (noun n.)
notes
[6] Légíónum ‘of Caerleon’: Latin ‘of the legions’. Gunnlaugr retains the Latin gen. pl. form.
taka ‘take over’
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2. taka (verb): take
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
in ‘the’
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2. inn (art.): the
mæta ‘splendid’
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mætr (adj.; °compar. -ri/-ari, superl. -astr): honoured, respected
Menelógía ‘Menelogia’
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Menelógía (noun f.)
notes
[8] Menelógía ‘Menelogia’: In the form menologion, pl. menologia this is a term for a Greek Orthodox calendar of saints’ lives (OED: menologion), but here evidently used in error for the perhaps unfamiliar p. n. Menevia, ‘St Davids’. The error is unlikely to be Gunnlaugr’s, given the general high level of his Latinity. As the reading is unrefreshed it can be added to the list of probable errors already present in Hb. Bret 1848-9 emends to Menevia accordingly but Skj B retains, as do Merl 2012 and the present edn. (LP, presumably in error also, records the Latin name as Menovia.)
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Cf. DGB 112 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 145.46-7, 48-9; cf. Wright 1988, 102, prophecy 3): et transmutacio primarum sedium fiet. Dignitas Lundoniae adornabit Doroberniam … Meneuia pallio Vrbis Legionum induetur ‘and archbishoprics will be displaced. London’s honour will adorn Canterbury … St David’s [sic] will wear the pallium of Caerleon’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 144). London is described by Geoffrey as the seat of an archbishop in Romano-British times (DGB VI: Reeve and Wright 2007, 112-3; cf. Tatlock 1950, 264). The existence of a see of Caerleon and its pre-eminence in Britain before the arrival of the Saxons appear to be inventions on Geoffrey’s part (Tatlock 1950, 264-5, 266). Geoffrey recounts the death of David, archbishop of Caerleon, at Menevia (Welsh Mynyw), subsequently St Davids (Welsh Tyddewi) in DGB XI (Reeve and Wright 2007, 254-5). The prophecy appears to foreshadow the expression of Welsh aspirations to restore this see to the status of an archbishopric (cf. Tatlock 1950, 266, 415; Curley 1982, 220, 223; see II 16 Note to [All]). As noted in Bret 1848-9, two other locations mentioned in Geoffrey’s text, York and Ireland, are not represented in Merl, at least as extant.
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