GunnLeif Merl I 87VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 155 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 87)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 122.
Þá ‘Then’
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2. þá (adv.): then
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
illingar ‘of evil’
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illing (noun f.; °-ar; -ar): °ondskab; undertrykkelse, plage, fordærv; ugerning
asni ‘the ass’
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asni (noun m.; °-a; -ar): °ass; of two stars in the constellation Cancer: the Asses)
ríkja ‘reign’
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ríkja (verb): rule
fljótr ‘quick’
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2. fljótr (adj.): quick
taka ‘to take’
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2. taka (verb): take
fé ‘the property’
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fé (noun n.; °fjár/féar; -): cattle, money
gullsmiða ‘of goldsmiths’
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gullsmiðr (noun m.)
Es ‘will be’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
lofða ‘of men’
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lofði (noun m.; °; -ar): man
kennings
Gramr vinr lofða‘The fierce friend of men ’
= RULER
The fierce friend of men → RULER
vinr ‘friend’
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vinr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -/(-i OsvReyk 92.17); -ir): friend
kennings
Gramr vinr lofða‘The fierce friend of men ’
= RULER
The fierce friend of men → RULER
latr ‘slow’
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latr (adj.; °compar. -ari): lazy, slow
at ‘to’
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5. at (nota): to (with infinitive)
hefna ‘avenge’
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hefna (verb): avenge
gylðis ‘of the wolf’
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gylðir (noun m.): wolf
kennings
barna gylðis.‘of the children of the wolf. ’
= WOLVES
the children of the wolf. → WOLVES
barna ‘of the children’
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barn (noun n.; °-s; bǫrn/barn(JKr 345³), dat. bǫrnum/barnum): child
kennings
barna gylðis.‘of the children of the wolf. ’
= WOLVES
the children of the wolf. → WOLVES
gramr ‘The fierce’
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2. gramr (adj.): angry
kennings
Gramr vinr lofða‘The fierce friend of men ’
= RULER
The fierce friend of men → RULER
notes
[8] gramr ‘fierce’: Construed here as an adj. qualifying vinr ‘friend’: cf. II 35/5. But the word is difficult to place convincingly; Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) treats it as a predicative adj., though his Danish translation renders it as an adverbial phrase med grusomhed ‘with ferocity’; similarly Merl 2012. Kock (FF §64) would construe it as gramr ‘king’, in apposition to vinr ‘friend’ – basing himself, as often, on West Germanic verse style. An alternative approach might be to emend to grams ‘fierce’ or even grás ‘grey’, gen. sg. agreeing with gylðis ‘wolf’.
ránsemi ‘the rapacity’
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ránsemi (noun f.)
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Cf. DGB 115 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.139-40; cf. Wright 1988, 107, prophecy 29): Succedet asinus nequitiae, in fabricatores auri uelox sed in luporum rapacitatem piger ‘The ass of wickedness is his successor, swift against makers of gold but slow against the rapacity of wolves’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 150).
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