GunnLeif Merl I 80VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 148 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 80)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 116.
Kømr ‘will come’
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koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come
kaupskapar ‘of commerce’
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kaupskapr (noun m.)
kappgóðr ‘exceedingly good’
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kappgóðr (adj.)
notes
[2] kappgóðr ‘exceedingly good’: A hap. leg., which, in the absence of any counterpart in the Latin, resists definitive interpretation. Difficulty is caused by the variety in uses of kapp- in the other compounds where this is the initial element, along with the fact that some of them are also hap. leg. The interpretation tentatively adopted in this edn is due to Bret 1848-9 and Skj B, which take kapp- as an intensifier, thus ‘very good’, but varies on it by introducing the concept of ‘exceeding’ or ‘outdoing’ inherent in the sense of kapp ‘contest, ardour’ (see CVC, Fritzner, ONP: kapp). Against this, NN §3258D, followed by Merl 2012, proposes the interpretation ‘able in competition’. Gunnlaugr goes beyond DGB so as to introduce the word kapp, either as simplex or compounded, in three other instances: I 41/2 hvítdreki kapps ‘the white serpent of belligerence’, I 92/1 mǫnnum kapps ‘to men of bravery’ and II 9/3-4 í kappsauðga borg ‘in the exceedingly prosperous city’. They demonstrate that he was capable of using the word in both the key meanings in contention here. Kock is only able to discount the latter meaning by basing himself on a highly select subset of kapp- compounds that exhibit the former meaning; Merl 2012 does not elaborate on this aspect. Also, in context the characterisation of the boar-king as ‘able in competition’ would seem to have little relevance, whereas his being described as ‘exceedingly good’ can be taken as borne out by the restoration of his people to their former fortunes; in effect, he will be a ‘good king’ memorable as outdoing other kings in terms of ‘goodness’, a decided contrast to the bad leadership described in the preceding stanzas and also a polar opposite of a subsequent ruler, the asni illingar ‘ass of evil’ (I 87/1-2). The specific aspects of his goodness are further spelt out in the following stanzas.
þinig ‘there’
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þannig (adv.): thus, there, that way
villigalti ‘The wild boar’
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villigalti (noun m.)
virðum ‘men’
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virðr (noun m.): man
samna ‘to gather’
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safna (verb): gather
af ‘from’
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af (prep.): from
fróni ‘the land’
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2. frón (noun n.): earth, land
áðan ‘had previously’
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áðan (adv.): before
Lætr ‘causes’
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láta (verb): let, have sth done
hann ‘He’
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hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
byggva ‘to settle’
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2. byggja (verb; °byggir/byggvir; byggði; byggðr): inhabit, dwell; build, found
brezkar ‘the British’
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brezkr (adj.): British
jarðir ‘lands’
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jǫrð (noun f.; °jarðar, dat. -u; jarðir/jarðar(DN I (1367) 304)): ground, earth
borgir ‘cities’
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borg (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -; -ir): city, stronghold
eyddar ‘the devastated’
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2. eyða (verb; °-dd-): destroy
ból ‘estates’
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ból (noun n.; °-s; -): dwelling
notes
[10] góligust ból ‘the choicest estates’: Cf. Anon (Mberf) 2/2II ból, þats ek veit gólast ‘the farm, which I find the best’.
góligust ‘the choicest’
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góligr (adj.): splendid
notes
[10] góligust ból ‘the choicest estates’: Cf. Anon (Mberf) 2/2II ból, þats ek veit gólast ‘the farm, which I find the best’.
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Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.128-9; cf. Wright 1988, 106, prophecy 26): Superueniet aper commercii, qui dispersos greges ad amissam pascuam reuocabit ‘The boar of commerce will arrive and call the scattered flocks back to their lost pasture’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 150). This is a third salvific boar-king in Geoffrey’s series. Gunnlaugr rationalises the allegory by replacing ‘flocks’ with ‘men’ and expanding ‘pasture’ to include the concept of ‘cities’.
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