GunnLeif Merl I 86^VIII

‘Ok hann síðan þekr         þykku laufi
einn of alla         eybarms fjǫru.
Megut þá fljúga         foglar í landi,
þvíat hann œgir þeim,         en hann enn til sín
laðar fogla fljótt         ferð útlendra.

‘Ok síðan þekr hann einn þykku laufi of alla fjǫru eybarms. Foglar megut þá fljúga í landi, þvíat hann œgir þeim, en hann laðar enn ferð útlendra fogla fljótt til sín.

‘And then it alone will cover with its dense foliage the entire foreshore of the island’s fringe. The birds within the land will then be unable to fly, because he will frighten them, but yet he will quickly entice a host of foreign birds to himself.

Mss: Hb(52v) (Bret)

Editions: Skj AII, 34, Skj BII, 41, Skald II, 26; Bret 1848-9, II, 69 (Bret st. 154); Hb 1892-6, 282; Merl 2012, 195-6.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.137-9; cf. Wright 1988, 107, prophecy 28): et uolucres exterarum regionum sustentabit. Patriis uolatilibus nociuus habebitur; nam timore umbrae eius liberos uolatus amittent ‘and feed birds from foreign lands. It will prove harmful to native birds; for they will not be able to fly freely in fear of its shadow’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 150). — [4] eybarms ‘of the island’s fringe’: The ms. reading (not refreshed) has been taken as eykarms by earlier eds, but the letter read as k could be either <b> or <k>. Cf. barmi eylands ‘fringe of the island’ in I 40/6-7. The cpd eybarmr ‘the island-edge’ appears in Angantýr Lv 3/4 (Heiðr 32). Bret 1848-9 adopts eybarms as an emendation. This is also contemplated by Finnur Jónsson (LP: eybarmr) but not adopted in Skj B, where eykarmr is retained and translated as hele strandbreddens kyst ‘the whole shore of the beach’ (cf. LP: eykarmr). But such a sense is inappropriate to the context and the supposed underlying kenning pattern is weakly attested (Meissner 92; contrast LP: eylúðr). Skald and Merl 2012 retain eykarms without comment.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
7. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
8. Reeve, Michael D., and Neil Wright. 2007. Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings of Britain. An Edition and Translation of De gestis Britonum [Historia regum Britanniae]. Woodbridge: Boydell.
9. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
10. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
11. Internal references
12. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 79 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 32)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 446.
13. 2017, ‘ Unattributed, Breta saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=125> (accessed 26 April 2024)
14. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 32 (Angantýr Arngrímsson, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 393.