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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl I 89VIII

Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 157 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 89)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 123.

Gunnlaugr LeifssonMerlínusspá I
888990

text and translation

‘Ok Ránar vegr         renn of ósa
Sábrínus sjau;         sék þat fyrir.
En Óskarô         — þat es undr mikit —
mun mánuðr sjau         môttug vella.
Gervisk fiskum         fjǫrtjón at því,
en ór sjǫlfum þeim         snákar verða.

‘Ok {vegr Ránar} renn of sjau ósa Sábrínus; sék þat fyrir. En Óskarô mun vella môttug sjau mánuðr; þat es mikit undr. Fjǫrtjón gervisk fiskum at því, en snákar verða ór sjǫlfum þeim.
 
‘‘And the path of Rán <sea-goddess> [SEA] will run through seven mouths of the Severn; I foresee that. And the river Usk will boil powerfully for seven months; that is a great marvel. Loss of life for the fish will come of that, and snakes will be engendered out of them.

notes and context

Cf. DGB 116 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 151.141-3; cf. Wright 1988, 107, prophecy 30): Sabrinum mare per septem hostia discurret, et fluuius Oscae per septem menses feruebit. Pisces illius calore morientur, et ex eis procreabuntur serpentes ‘The Severn sea will flow out through seven channels and the river Usk will boil for seven months. The heat will kill its fish and from them snakes will be procreated’ (cf. Reeve and Wright 2007, 150). The Bristol Channel was formerly known as the Severn Sea (cf. Welsh Môr Hafren).

readings

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.

editions and texts

Skj: Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínússpá II 89: AII, 35, BII, 42, Skald II, 26, NN §3258E; Bret 1848-9, II, 70 (Bret st. 157); Hb 1892-6, 282; Merl 2012, 197-8.

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