GunnLeif Merl I 72VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 140 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 72)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 108.
Mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
villigǫltr ‘A wild boar’
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villigǫltr (noun m.)
vígdjarfr ‘daring in combat’
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vígdjarfr (adj.): battle-bold
koma ‘issue’
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koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come
ór ‘from’
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3. ór (prep.): out of
kynstórri ‘the mighty’
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kynstórr (adj.): high-born
notes
[4] Kónánus ‘of Conan’: Emended by Bret 1848-9, followed by subsequent eds, for ms. ‘Kominus’ (refreshed). The reference is to Conan Meriadoc: see I 64 Note to [All].
ætt ‘lineage’
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1. ætt (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): family
notes
[5] konr vigra ‘scion of pigs’: The latter word is emended in this edn from ms. ‘viga-‘ (refreshed). The heiti vigrir ‘boar’ occurs in Þul Galtar 1/7III; see Note there; cf. LP: vigr, where an etymology based on med tænder som spyd ‘with spear-like teeth’ is tentatively suggested. Scheving (reported in Bret 1848-9) emended the words viga konr more drastically to vígtǫnnum ‘with battle tusks’, guided by the wording of DGB. This solution was adopted in Bret 1848-9 and Skj B and may well be correct. Other possibilities, however, are that Gunnlaugr omitted the mention of tusks, as he evidently does in II 30/5-8, perhaps in order to rationalise the allegory, or that there is a lacuna after l. 6, in which the boar’s tusks could have been mentioned. In Skald ‘viga-’ is read as víga, without explanation: Merl 2012 adopts this reading, translating konr víga as Mann der Kämpfe [= dieser Krieger] ‘man of battles [= this warrior]’, but such a periphrasis would be unidiomatic; also, konr as a heiti for ‘man’ in general is very rarely attested as against the numerous attestations in the sense of ‘scion, descendant, heir’ (LP: konr).
konr ‘scion’
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konr (noun m.; °-ar): kind, descendant
notes
[5] konr vigra ‘scion of pigs’: The latter word is emended in this edn from ms. ‘viga-‘ (refreshed). The heiti vigrir ‘boar’ occurs in Þul Galtar 1/7III; see Note there; cf. LP: vigr, where an etymology based on med tænder som spyd ‘with spear-like teeth’ is tentatively suggested. Scheving (reported in Bret 1848-9) emended the words viga konr more drastically to vígtǫnnum ‘with battle tusks’, guided by the wording of DGB. This solution was adopted in Bret 1848-9 and Skj B and may well be correct. Other possibilities, however, are that Gunnlaugr omitted the mention of tusks, as he evidently does in II 30/5-8, perhaps in order to rationalise the allegory, or that there is a lacuna after l. 6, in which the boar’s tusks could have been mentioned. In Skald ‘viga-’ is read as víga, without explanation: Merl 2012 adopts this reading, translating konr víga as Mann der Kämpfe [= dieser Krieger] ‘man of battles [= this warrior]’, but such a periphrasis would be unidiomatic; also, konr as a heiti for ‘man’ in general is very rarely attested as against the numerous attestations in the sense of ‘scion, descendant, heir’ (LP: konr).
Vallandi ‘France’
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Valland (noun n.): [Gaul]
notes
[6] Vallandi ‘France’: This is the hitherto unrecognised ms. reading (refreshed). Above the first vowel, which as refreshed might be either <a> or <i>, is a stroke sloping downwards and rightwards that appears to have been part of an original <a>. A pen stroke runs across the <lld> of valldi, descending rightwards somewhat to merge with <d>. It is distinct from the ascender of <d>, as is shown by comparison with I 35/7 veldi and I 66/8 skildi, and might be interpreted as a mark of contraction, thus ‘landi’. A similar pen stroke, reaching leftwards from the ascender of <d> so as to cross the <l> or occasionally placed above both <l> and <d>, is seen in such refreshed readings as II 13/2 ‘landi’, II 15/4 ‘Bretlands’, II 19/4 ‘landreki’ and II 31/4 ‘landher’. This stroke can usually but not always be distinguished from the stroke seen elsewhere in association with preceding <l> or <ll> which is merely a run-in to the <d>, and where no contraction is involved (e.g. I 38/10). Sometimes, however, the abbreviated form of land lacks any mark of contraction, as in the refreshed readings II 1/6 and II 2/2, and this may have been the norm in the original hand (cf. I 12/6, I 23/4, I 28/4 and I 37/4). Regardless of how the pen stroke is interpreted, then, expansion to ‑landi seems secure and there are no indications that the refreshing is other than accurate on this occasion. Earlier eds, not recognising the reading, are led into tentative emendations. Scheving is reported in Bret 1848-9, without further explanation, as conjecturing valdastar ‘mightiest’ or vildastar ‘choicest’, in reference to the eikr (f. acc. pl.). Bret 1848-9 emends to valskar ‘French’, likewise qualifying eikr. Finnur Jónsson reads villdi a (Skj A) and emends to vildjá.. (sic: left untranslated), with ellipses to show that the line was metrically deficient (Skj B, followed by Skald and Merl 2012).
á ‘in’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
Høggr ‘hews down’
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hǫggva (verb): to strike, put to death, cut, hew
yngva ‘The prince’s’
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Yngvi (noun m.): Yngvi, prince
sonr ‘son’
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sonr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. syni; synir, acc. sonu, syni): son
eikr ‘oaks’
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eik (noun f.; °eikr/eikar; eikr): oak
ór ‘from’
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3. ór (prep.): out of
skógi ‘the forest’
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skógr (noun m.; °-ar/-s, dat. -i; -ar): forest
þó ‘yet’
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þó (adv.): though
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
hilmir ‘the ruler’
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hilmir (noun m.): prince, protector
hollr ‘be kindly’
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hollr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): loyal
smáviði ‘to small trees’
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smáviði (noun n.)
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 149.114-17; cf. Wright 1988, 105-6, prophecy 21): Ex Conano procedet aper bellicosus, qui infra Gallicana nemora acumen dentium suorum exercebit. Truncabit namque quaeque maiora robora, minoribus uero tutelam praestabit ‘From Conanus will come forth a warlike boar, who will exercise the sharpness of his tusks on the forests of France. He will cut short all the tallest trees, but give protection to the smaller’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 148). Geoffrey envisages the resurgent British monarchy gaining power in France. Gunnlaugr amplifies on the glory of the boar king’s lineage, probably with Arthur, the greatest of the boar kings, in mind: cf. I 24/4.
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