GunnLeif Merl I 98^VIII

Segir Dáníel         drauma sína
margháttaða         merkjum studda.
Kvezk drjúglig sjá         dýr á jǫrðu,
þaus tôknuðu         tyggja ríki,
þaus á hauðri         hófusk síðan.

Dáníel segir margháttaða drauma sína, studda merkjum. Kvezk sjá drjúglig dýr á jǫrðu, þaus tôknuðu ríki tyggja, þaus hófusk síðan á hauðri.

Daniel tells his diverse dreams, supported by miracles. He says that he sees mighty animals on earth that signified the realms of kings that later came into being on earth.

Mss: Hb(52v) (Bret)

Editions: Skj AII, 36, Skj BII, 44, Skald II, 28; Bret 1848-9, II, 73 (Bret st. 166); Hb 1892-6, 283; Merl 2012, 206.

Notes: [All]: See Dan. VII.3-12 for evocation of animal figures in a political allegory (cf. Taylor 1911, 25-6). Greatly augmenting the biblical prophet’s substantial reputation, beyond the information contained in Scripture, was the Somniale ascribed to Daniel. This pseudonymous early medieval compilation, consisting of a list of dream-symbols, underlay much dream symbolism in Icelandic literature, both medieval and more recent (Turville-Petre 1972b, 45-6), and incorporated many mentions of animals seen in dreams. Text and translation of an Old English version are included in Liuzza (2011, 80-123). — [5] drjúglig ‘mighty’: cf. I 15/1. Finnur Jónsson (LP) understands as ‘great’ in both these cases, also citing Ótt Hfl 6/1^I drjúgligr ótti ‘great terror’. Citations in ONP show a range of other meanings in prose, including ‘substantial, effective, solid’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. 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.
4. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
5. 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.
6. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1972b. ‘Dreams in Icelandic Tradition’. In Turville-Petre 1972a, 30-51. Rpt. with a postscript; originally published in Folklore 69 (1958), 93-111.
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. Taylor, Rupert. 1911. The Political Prophecy in England. Columbia University Studies in English, vol. 2 no. 13. New York: Columbia University Press.
9. Liuzza, R. M., ed. and trans. 2011. Anglo-Saxon Prognostics: An Edition and Translation of Texts from London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A.iii. Anglo-Saxon Texts. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
10. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
11. Internal references
12. 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 2 May 2024)
13. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn 6’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 748.