GunnLeif Merl I 48VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 116 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 48)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 84.
text and translation
‘Þá mun hann gjalda grimmra ráða;
es hans tíundat tálaukit kyn.
Verðr hann grœna grund at vinna,
ok hann upp frá því aldri ríkir.
Tekr hann svá fyr svik sárar hefnðir.
‘Þá mun hann gjalda grimmra ráða; tálaukit kyn hans es tíundat. Hann verðr at vinna grœna grund, ok hann ríkir aldri upp frá því. Svá tekr hann sárar hefnðir fyr svik.
‘‘Then he will pay for his savage actions; his treacherous kindred will be decimated. He will have to work the green earth and from that time onwards he will reign no more. Thus he will incur grievous retributions for his treachery. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 113 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.75-6; cf. Wright 1988, 103, prophecy 9): et reliquiae generationis eius decimabuntur. Iugum perpetuae seruitutis ferent matremque suam ligonibus et aratris uulnerabunt ‘And the remnants of its generation will be decimated. They will bear the yoke of unending slavery and wound their mother with hoes and ploughs’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). Under the Conqueror’s rule the leading English landowners, both secular and ecclesiastical, were supplanted by Normans (Stenton 1971, 680-1). This subjugation of the English was a key element in what Curley (1982, 219) terms ‘the supposed progressive unfolding of the spes Britannorum’ (‘hope of the Britons’). Gunnlaugr tones down the maternal imagery and the notion of slavery but plays up the treachery of the white snake, i.e. the Saxon occupiers of Britain. — [6]: See Introduction for readings no longer visible in Hb that could be read by earlier eds.
readings
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.
-
AM 544 4° (Hb) — 51v/29 - 51v/31
images‘Þá mun hann gjalda
grimmra ráða;
es hans tíundat
tálaukit kyn.
Verðr hann grœna
†[…]nna† ,
ok hann upp frá því
aldri ríkir.
Tekr hann svá fyr svik
sárar hefnðir.Þa | man hann giallda grimra raða er hans tivndað talavkið kyn verðr hann grꝍna grvnd að vi | nna ok hann vpp fra þvi alldri rikir tekr hann sva fyrir svik sarar hefndir
(VEÞ)
editions and texts
Stanza/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.