GunnLeif Merl I 74VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 142 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 74)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 110.
text and translation
‘Sitr ept hilmi hafr at lǫndum;
hans esat skilja skap frá vífni.
Berr hann á hǫfði horn ór gulli;
es skegg skata skapat ór silfri.
‘Hafr sitr ept hilmi at lǫndum; skap hans esat skilja frá vífni. Hann berr á hǫfði horn ór gulli; skegg skata es skapat ór silfri.
‘‘A he-goat will preside over the lands after the king; his temperament cannot be separated from desire for women. He will bear on his head horns of gold; the leader’s beard will be formed from silver. ’
notes and context
Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 149.118-51.119; cf. Wright 1988, 106, prophecy 22): Succedet hircus Venerii Castri, aurea habens cornua et argenteam barbam ‘The goat of the Fortress of Venus, with golden horns and a silver beard, will succeed him’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 148‑50). The reference to Venus in DGB is not taken up explicitly in Merl, at least as extant (cf. I 76 Note to [All]), but the concept of her castle is conveyed indirectly in the words kastra kvensemi ‘castles of desire for women’ (I 76/5-6). — [3-4]: The sense is that the king cannot be prevailed on (e.g. by his counsellors) to give up his predilection for women – an accusation frequently made against Henry I by churchmen and other contemporaries (see I 51 Note to [All]). Merl 2012 would instead modify the normally accepted ms. reading hans erat to hann sérat, translating er versteht es nicht ‘he does not understand it’, but the required sense of sjá seems to occur only in combination with prepositions (LP: séa; Fritzner: sjá).
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/34 - 52r/36
imagesSitr efter hilmi hafr at | londvm hann ser at skilia skap fra vifni berr hann a havfþi horn or gvlli er skeɢ skata skapað | or silfri
(VEÞ)
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