GunnLeif Merl I 99^VIII

Rekr inn dýri         Dávíð konungr
margfalda spô,         ok mælir svá:
‘Fjǫll munu fagna         ok inn fríði skógr,
en skœðar ár         skella lófum,
ok dalir ymna         dróttni syngja.’

Inn dýri Dávíð konungr rekr margfalda spô, ok mælir svá: ‘Fjǫll ok inn fríði skógr munu fagna, en skœðar ár skella lófum, ok dalir syngja ymna dróttni.’

The noble King David utters manifold prophecy and speaks thus: ‘The mountains and the fair forest will rejoice, and dangerous rivers clap their hands and the valleys sing hymns to the Lord.’

Mss: Hb(52v) (Bret)

Editions: Skj AII, 36, Skj BII, 44, Skald II, 28; Bret 1848-9, II, 73-4 (Bret st. 167); Hb 1892-6, 283; Merl 2012, 206-7. 

Notes: [All]: Cf. Ps. XCVII.8: Flumina plaudent manu simul montes laudabunt ‘The rivers shall clap their hands, the mountains shall rejoice together’. The mentions of the ‘forest’ and the ‘valleys’ seem to represent free variation; for the concept of forest as speaker, cf. II 15/5‑8. The psalms of David were regarded as prophesying the coming of the Messiah, but this would not have been the totality of their perceived relevance to an Icelandic audience; Sv (ÍF 30, 152) represents King Sverrir himself as claiming that the prophecies of the psálmaskáldit ‘the poet of the psalms’, i.e. King David, have come true in Sverrir’s own days. — [3] margfalda ‘manifold’: The adj. margfaldr is commonly used with sg. nouns (ONP: margfaldr) in a variety of senses that include ‘manifold, plentiful, abundant, abounding’ (cf. Fritzner: margfaldr); Skj B has mangedobbelt ‘multiplied’ (cf. CVC: margfaldr). Bret 1848-9 instead opts for ypperlig ‘superb, excellent’, but the existence of so general a sense would be hard to support.

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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
6. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
7. 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.
8. ÍF 30 = Sverris saga. Ed. Þorleifur Hauksson. 2007.
9. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
10. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
11. Internal references
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Sverris saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2> (accessed 7 May 2024)
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 7 May 2024)