GunnLeif Merl I 42VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 110 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 42)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 78.
text and translation
‘Eru laufviðar ljósum fjǫtri
takmǫrk gefin í tali ára.
Munat hann ríkja of in rǫmmu skǫp
né því inu fagra fróni ráða.
‘Takmǫrk eru gefin {ljósum fjǫtri laufviðar} í tali ára. Hann munat ríkja of in rǫmmu skǫp né ráða því inu fagra fróni.
‘‘Limits are set to the white fetter of the leafy tree [SNAKE] as to number of years. He will not govern the mighty fates nor rule that fair land. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 112 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.66; cf. Wright 1988, 103, prophecy 7): Terminus illi positus est quem transuolare nequibit ‘A limit has been set for the white dragon beyond which it will not be able to fly’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). Gunnlaugr partially rationalises this prophecy of the Norman Conquest by explicitly mentioning rule over the land (cf. Note to I 32/5-8) and additionally invokes the concept of an over-ruling Fate (skǫp: cf. Fritzner: skǫp), as also in I 49/8. The Norman Conquest itself is narrated in I 46‑8.
sources
Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.
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AM 544 4° (Hb) — 51v/21 - 51v/22
imagesErv lavf viðar liosvm fiotri takmork gefin itali ara mvnað hann rikia vm en romv skop | ne þvi env fagra froni ráða
(VEÞ)
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