GunnLeif Merl I 43^VIII

‘Vera mun* ára         í aga miklum
fimtán tigi         foldar belti.
En tírœð         tíri gǫfgaðr
hundruð þrjú         hann mun sitja
Lundúnum at         ok lýða fjǫlð.

‘{Belti foldar} mun* vera í miklum aga fimtán tigi ára. En hann mun sitja at Lundúnum þrjú hundruð tírœð gǫfgaðr tíri, ok fjǫlð lýða.

‘{The belt of the earth} [SNAKE] will be in great strife for fifteen decades. But for three hundred years, counted decimally, he will reign in London, endued with glory, and a multitude of people [with him].

Mss: Hb(51v) (Bret)

Readings: [1] mun*: munu Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 28, Skj BII, 32-3, Skald II, 20, NN §102; Bret 1848-9, II, 53 (Bret st. 111); Hb 1892-6, 280; Merl 2012, 159-60.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 113 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.66-7; cf. Wright 1988, 103, prophecy 7): centum namque quinquaginta annis in inquietudine et subiectione manebit, ter centum uero insidebit ‘for a hundred and fifty years it will endure harassment and submission, but for three hundred it will be in occupation’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). Gunnlaugr adds the idea of a multitude of people living under the sway of the white snake. — [1] mun* ‘will’: Emended in this edn from Hb munu. Also emended to mun in Skj B (followed by Skald), but perhaps tentatively, since the translation in Skj B (albeit rather loose) presupposes retention of a pl. verb to match the pl. subject ‘snakes’: vil der være stor strid mellem ormene ‘there will be great strife between the snakes’. Kock does not comment on the matter. Bret 1848-9 had retained munu with a similar translation and it is retained without comment in Hb 1892-6. Merl 2012 would also retain, noting that belti ‘belt’, as a n. noun, could be either sg. or pl. But a pl. in l. 1 followed by sg. hann in l. 8 would be odd and the evidence of DGB speaks against it. — [5] tírœð ‘counted decimally’: In contradistinction to the ‘long hundred’ = 120. Cf. SnSt Ht 100/3^III and Note. — [8] ok ‘and’: Kock (NN §102) points out a fondness on Gunnlaugr’s part for complex subjects with sg. verb after the first subject component. See Note to I 36/9‑12.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. 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.
8. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
9. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
10. Internal references
11. 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 3 May 2024)
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 100’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1208.