GunnLeif Merl I 73VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 141 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 73)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 109.
text and translation
‘Munu Rábítar ræsi ugga
út í heimi ok Affríkar.
Fǫr mun vísi víðlendr gera
á it ýtra œgr Ispáníam.
‘Rábítar ok Affríkar munu ugga ræsi út í heimi. Œgr, víðlendr vísi mun gera fǫr á it ýtra Ispáníam.
‘‘The Arabs and Africans will fear the leader out in the world. The awe-inspiring leader with extensive territories will make an expedition to Spain on its farther side. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 149.117-18; cf. Wright 1988, 106, prophecy 21): Tremebunt illum Arabes et Affricani; nam impetum cursus sui in ulteriorem Hispaniam protendet ‘The Arabs and Africans will tremble before him; for his charge will carry him all the way to the further regions of Spain’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 148). Geoffrey appears to envisage an Arthur-like British conqueror (cf. sts 24-7); he repeats the boar-king allegorisation used of Arthur. — [7-8]: The word order here is rather convoluted by Gunnlaugr’s standards, with the interweaving of the adj. œgr ‘awe-inspiring’, part of the noun phrase, with adverbial phrases attaching to the verb phrase. The syntax is not altogether resolved. It would seem, however, that the prep. á ‘on’ governs Ispáníam ‘Spain’ (a Latin first declension acc. sg., to be scanned as four syllables (contrast Bret 1848‑9). This leaves it ýtra fulfilling an adverbial function, lit. ‘on the outer side’, or ‘on the farther side’, as seen from a British or Scandinavian perspective: to judge from the mention of Arabs and Africans in ll. 1 and 4 respectively, the southern side is intended. Comparable are the following passages: Þjsk Jarl 1/1I and Ív Sig 32/3II (see Notes there). Also probably to be thus construed is Mark Eirdr 22/6II (though see Note there and LP: ýtri). Translations in other eds obscure the syntax, apparently ignoring the f. gender of Ispáníam: Bret 1848-9 has til det fjerne Hispania ‘to distant Spain’, Skj B til det fjærnere Spanien ‘to the further [regions of?] Spain’, Merl 2012 zum äußeren Spanien ‘to outer Spain’. Also obscured in these eds is the fact that the antecedent of œgr ‘awe-inspiring’ is vísi ‘leader’, not fǫr ‘expedition’.
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.
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AM 544 4° (Hb) — 52r/33 - 52r/34
imagesMvnv rabitar ræsi vgga vt i heime ok | affrikar far mvn visir viðlendr gera a eð ytra ꝍgr hispaniam
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