GunnLeif Merl I 54VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 122 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 54)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 91.
text and translation
‘Þá munu gumnar gráta á nóttum
ok þjóð gera þægjar bœnir.
Þá munu hǫlðar til himins kosta;
fá it langa líf lǫfðar nýtir.
‘Þá gumnar munu gráta á nóttum ok þjóð gera þægjar bœnir. Þá munu hǫlðar kosta til himins; nýtir lǫfðar fá it langa líf.
‘‘Then men will weep at night and people will say acceptable prayers. Then men will strive after heaven; worthy men will obtain the long life. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 113 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 149.87-9; cf. Wright 1988, 104, prophecies 12 and 13): Nocturnis lacrimis madebit insula, unde omnes ad omnia prouocabuntur. Nitentur posteri transuolare superna, sed fauor nouorum sublimabitur ‘The island shall be soaked in nightly tears, and so all men will be provoked to all things. Their progeny will try to fly beyond the heavens, but the favour of new men will be raised up’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 148). The prophecy describes the reaction of the British people to the atrocities described in the previous stanza. Following this, two paragraphs of prophecy in Geoffrey’s text (13, except for its first sentence, and 14) have no counterpart in Merl (cf. Bret 1848-9), possibly because of loss of stanzas in the transmission of Merl. There is likewise no counterpart in Merl to the added sentence Vae tibi Neustria, quia cerebrum leonis in te … a patrio solo eliminabitur ‘Woe to thee, Neustria [Normandy], … for the brain of the lion in thee … will be banished from its native soil’ found in mss Y and G, whose claims to authenticity remain unresolved (Reeve and Wright 2007, 149 n. to l. 88). — [7-8]: If nýtir ‘worthy’ is correct, Gunnlaugr appears to sidestep Geoffrey’s politically charged comment about ‘new men’ (see Note to I 51 [All]) in favour of a pious sentiment that ‘worthy men’ go on to the eternal (lit. ‘long’) life in heaven.
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) — 52r/5 - 52r/7
imagesÐa mvnv gvmnar grata a no | ttvm ok þioð gera þꝍgiar bꝍnir þa mvnv havlldar til hímíns kosta fa eð langa líf | lofðar nytir
(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.