GunnLeif Merl I 68VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 136 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 68)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 104.
Hrapa ‘tumble’
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hrapa (verb): [tumble down, rush]
hræva ‘of corpses’
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hræ (noun n.; °; -): corpse, carrion
gǫr ‘Heaps’
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gǫr (noun n.)
hátt ‘loudly’
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3. hár (adj.; °-van; compar. hǽrri, superl. hǽstr): high
gjalla ‘scream’
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gjalla (verb): to scream, shriek; to repay, return, pay for
spjǫr ‘spears’
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spjǫr (noun n.): spear
es ‘is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
malm ‘the weapon’
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malmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): metal < malmþrima (noun f.): [tumult of metal]
kennings
malmþrima‘the weapon-tumult ’
= BATTLE
the weapon-tumult → BATTLE
þrima ‘tumult’
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þrima (noun f.): battle, din < malmþrima (noun f.): [tumult of metal]
kennings
malmþrima‘the weapon-tumult ’
= BATTLE
the weapon-tumult → BATTLE
mest ‘greatest’
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meiri (adj. comp.; °meiran; superl. mestr): more, most
á ‘on’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
hjarli ‘the earth’
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hjarl (noun n.): land
Verðr ‘is’
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1. verða (verb): become, be
við ‘beside’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
einn ‘another’
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1. einn (num. cardinal; °f. ein, n. eitt; pl. einir; superl. debil. -asti(Anna238(2001) 155³²)): one; alone
valkǫstr ‘pile of slain’
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valkǫstr (noun m.): corpse-pile
hlaðinn ‘built up’
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2. hlaða (verb): heap, pile
munu ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
blóðgar ‘bloody’
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blóðigr (adj.; °blóðgan/blóðugan (f. dat. sg. bloðre Gulᴵ 82³⁴)): bloody
af ‘from’
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af (prep.): from
bjǫðum ‘the lands’
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bjað (noun n.): land
falla ‘fall’
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falla (verb): fall
en ‘and’
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2. en (conj.): but, and
notes
[9] en ‘and’: Treated as enn ‘once more’, introducing a new sentence, in Skald, but this violates the word order in independent clauses.
vígroða ‘the redness of battle’
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vígroði (noun m.)
notes
[9] vígroða ‘the redness of battle’: For the full array of attestations of this and related compounds see Kommentar IV, 726-7. It is usually interpreted as a red glow in the sky, portending battle (Bret 1848-9; Skj B; LP: vígroði; LT: vígroði; cf. NN §2406 stridens glöd ‘glow of battle’). Given the context in Merl, an additional connotation might be that blood spatters the heavens: cf. Anon Darr 1/4V(Nj 53) rignir blóði ‘it rains with blood’.
verpr ‘is cast up’
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1. verpa (verb): to throw, cast (up)
á ‘into’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
hlýrni ‘heaven’
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hlýrnir (noun m.): heaven, heavenly body
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 149.111-12; cf. Wright 1988, 105, prophecy 20): tunc flumina sanguine manabunt ‘then the rivers will flow with blood’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 148). Gunnlaugr reverses the order of this and the following clause from DGB (see I 69 Note to [All]). The rest of the material represents battle commonplaces in skaldic style. — [1-2]: The end-rhyme is reminiscent of runhent but, aside from I 69/5-6, Gunnlaugr does not maintain the treatment consistently; a more thorough-going attempt is seen in II 36.
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