GunnLeif Merl I 76^VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 144 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 76)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 112.

text and translation

notes and context

Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.122-4; cf. Wright 1988, 106, prophecy 23): Mulieres incessu serpentes fient, et omnis gressus earum superbia replebitur. Renouabuntur castra Veneris, nec cessabunt sagittae Cupidinis uulnerare ‘Women in their movement will become snakes and their every step will be filled with pride. The Fortress of Venus will be renewed, and Cupid’s arrows will not fail to wound’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 150). Geoffrey’s castra Veneris is rendered more generically by Gunnlaugr as kastra kvensemi ‘castles of desire for women’ (cf. I 74 Note to [All]), and he rationalises the reference to Cupid’s arrows. The word kvensemi (or kvennsemi) ‘desire, lust for women’ occurs chiefly in learned texts (ONP: kvensemi, cf. kvensamr; Fritzner: kvennsemi, cf. kvennsamr). The target of disapproval here may be the developing cult of love that was to reach its apogee in the later C12th at the courts of aristocratic women such as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Ermengarde of Narbonne (see Cheyette 2001, 237-8, 244-5); Gunnlaugr and his audience could have known of the ethos at Ermengarde’s court from Rv Lv 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 25^II. — [1-2]: A difficult passage which has resisted definitive solution. This edn follows Skj B (also Skald and Merl 2012) in adding prep. á ‘on’ before foldu ‘land’. This solution represents a refinement of Bret 1848-9, which tentatively supplies prep. um ‘around’ before foldu. It results in the sentence Þá munu fǫgr víf draga á foldu ‘Then beautiful women will make their way on the ground’. The idea would be that the women move along the ground in the manner of snakes, as stated by Geoffrey. In the sense ‘move oneself’, however, the reflexive dragask would be expected rather than active draga (CVC: draga), though see Fritzner: draga 18; LP: draga 12 for rare and uncertain attestations in this sense. An alternative interpretation of the ms. text that avoids emendation would be to regard it as a late C13th or C14th garbling that has effaced Gunnlaugr’s original. Here ms. foldu would be interpreted as fǫldu ‘headdress’, a f. counterpart of faldr ‘headdress’ (only one example extant in ONP but clearly attested in Bbreiðv Lv 4^/3^V (Eyrb 28), KormǪ Lv 49/2^V (Korm 70), and KormǪ Lv 60/5^V (Korm 81)). Then draga would have the sense ‘wear’ (ONP: draga A4), attested in translation texts from the mid to late C13th. The resulting sentence would read Þá munu fǫgr víf draga fǫldu ‘Then beautiful women will wear headdress[es]’. Women sporting headdresses of varying grades of showiness were emblematic of pride in medieval literature, the locus classicus in Old Norse being Rþ 29/1 (Dronke 1997, 168, 227).

readings

• [1] á foldu: foldu Hb

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) — 52v/1 - 52v/2

  ‘Þá munu foldu
  fǫgr víf draga;
  blístrar meyjum
  metnuðr í spor.
  Munu kvensemi
  kastra smíðuð;
  svíkr gumna vin
  girnð in ranga.

  Þa mvnv folld⸌v⸍ fogr vif draga blistrar meyívm metnvðr i spor mvnv kvenseme castra | smiðvt svikr gvmna vin girnd en ranga

  (VEÞ)

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