GunnLeif Merl I 5VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 73 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 51.
En ‘And’
(not checked:)
2. en (conj.): but, and
hers ‘of the army’
(not checked:)
herr (noun m.; °-s/-jar, dat. -; -jar, gen. -ja/herra): army, host
kennings
jaðarr hers‘the leader of the army ’
= RULER = Vortigern
the leader of the army → RULER = Vortigern
jaðarr ‘the leader’
(not checked:)
jaðarr (noun m.; °-s, dat. jaðri; jaðrar): edge, border
kennings
jaðarr hers‘the leader of the army ’
= RULER = Vortigern
the leader of the army → RULER = Vortigern
halda ‘hold’
(not checked:)
halda (verb): hold, keep
máttit ‘could not’
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mega (verb): may, might
brezkri ‘the British’
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brezkr (adj.): British
jǫrðu ‘land’
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jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
né ‘nor’
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né (conj.): nor
bauga ‘of treasures’
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baugr (noun m.; °dat. -i/-; -ar): ring
fjǫlð ‘the mass’
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fjǫlð (noun f.): multitude
Alt ‘all’
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allr (adj.): all
notes
[5-6] alt it eystra ‘all the east’: Lit. ‘all the eastern [edge]’. An adverbial phrase, modifying fór ‘overran’, whose acc. object is jaðar ‘edge’. Bret 1848-9 paraphrases loosely here: over Öens hele östlige Bred ‘over the island’s entire eastern margin’ (similarly Skj B), obscuring the syntax. Cf. Merl I 73/7-8 for adverbial constructions with comp. and sup. adjectives of direction. Merl 2012 appears to presuppose movement towards the east rather than along the eastern side: fuhr … ganz nach Osten bis an den Rand der Insel ‘drove all the way to the east up to the edge of the island’.
fór ‘overran’
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fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
notes
[5] fór ‘overran’: For this sense of fara, see LP: fara A4.
inn ‘The’
(not checked:)
2. inn (art.): the
heiðni ‘heathen’
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heiðinn (adj.): heathen
herr ‘army’
(not checked:)
herr (noun m.; °-s/-jar, dat. -; -jar, gen. -ja/herra): army, host
it ‘the’
(not checked:)
2. inn (art.): the
notes
[5-6] alt it eystra ‘all the east’: Lit. ‘all the eastern [edge]’. An adverbial phrase, modifying fór ‘overran’, whose acc. object is jaðar ‘edge’. Bret 1848-9 paraphrases loosely here: over Öens hele östlige Bred ‘over the island’s entire eastern margin’ (similarly Skj B), obscuring the syntax. Cf. Merl I 73/7-8 for adverbial constructions with comp. and sup. adjectives of direction. Merl 2012 appears to presuppose movement towards the east rather than along the eastern side: fuhr … ganz nach Osten bis an den Rand der Insel ‘drove all the way to the east up to the edge of the island’.
eystra ‘the east’
(not checked:)
eystri (adj. comp.; °superl. austastr/eystastr): °østligere, som ligger mere mod øst
notes
[5-6] alt it eystra ‘all the east’: Lit. ‘all the eastern [edge]’. An adverbial phrase, modifying fór ‘overran’, whose acc. object is jaðar ‘edge’. Bret 1848-9 paraphrases loosely here: over Öens hele östlige Bred ‘over the island’s entire eastern margin’ (similarly Skj B), obscuring the syntax. Cf. Merl I 73/7-8 for adverbial constructions with comp. and sup. adjectives of direction. Merl 2012 appears to presuppose movement towards the east rather than along the eastern side: fuhr … ganz nach Osten bis an den Rand der Insel ‘drove all the way to the east up to the edge of the island’.
eldi ‘with fire’
(not checked:)
eldr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-(HómÍsl¹(1993) 24v²⁴); -ar): fire
ok ‘and’
(not checked:)
3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
jarni ‘iron’
(not checked:)
járn (noun n.; °-s; -): iron, weapon
eylands ‘of the island’
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eyland (noun n.; °-s; *-): island
jaðar ‘edge’
(not checked:)
jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
This stanza possibly represents an inference from one or both of the following in DGB 105: Vortegirnus … duci eorum Hengisto dedit agros plurimos in Lindiseia regione (Reeve and Wright 2007, 127.299-300) ‘Vortigern … gave their leader Hengest extensive lands in the region of Lindsey’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 126) or [Saxones] urbem Lundoniae primitus adeuntes ceperunt. Ceperunt deinde Eboracum et Lindocolinum nec non et Guintoniam, quasque prouincias deuastantes (Reeve and Wright 2007, 137.494-5) ‘[The Saxons] went first to London, which they took. Next they took York, Lincoln and Winchester and laid waste to all regions’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 136). But the more likely source, at least for ll. 5-8, is Bede (HE I 15; Colgrave and Mynors 1969, 50-1), who locates the incursions generically in orientali parte insulae ‘in the eastern part of the island’, cited by Henry of Huntingdon (HA 1996, 78-9). — [8]: Double alliteration on vowels in even lines, where one of them is <j>, as seen here, occurs rarely as an apparent licence, starting in the late C12th. See Note to Eyv Hál 10/2-3I.
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