Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Máni, Lausavísur 3’ 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, pp. 643-4.
Gígjan syngr, þars ganga
— grípa menn til pípu —
— fœra fólsku stóra —
framm leikarar bleikir.
Undrs, hvé augum vendir
umb, sás þýtr í trumbu;
kníðan lítk á kauða
kjapt ok blásna hvapta.
Gígjan syngr, þars bleikir leikarar ganga framm; menn grípa til pípu; fœra stóra fólsku. Undrs, hvé vendir augum umb, sás þýtr í trumbu; lítk kníðan kjapt ok blásna hvapta á kauða.
The fiddle sings where the pale minstrels walk forth; men grasp the flute; they bring great foolishness. It’s a marvel, how he who blows in the trumpet rolls his eyes; I see the stuffed cheeks and the distended mouth of the wretch.
Mss: 327(44v) (Sv)
Editions: Skj AI, 539, Skj BI, 520, Skald I, 254, NN §1166; ÍF 30, 131 (ch. 85), Sv 1920, 91.
Context: As st. 2 above.
Notes: [1-4]: In the present edn, bleikir leikarar ‘the pale minstrels’ (l. 4) function as the subject of the verb ganga ‘walk’ (l. 1). Skj B, Skald and ÍF 30 treat ll. 3-4 as one cl.: bleikir leikarar fœra framm stóra fólsku ‘the pale minstrels bring forth great foolishness’. — [1] gígjan ‘the fiddle’: Skj B and Skald omit the suffixed def. art., but that is unnecessary given the relatively late date of the st. (see ANG §472). For gígja, see Note to Lv 2/1 above. — [1] þars ganga ‘where walk’: Skj B construes ganga as the gen. pl. of gangr ‘continuous sound’ which is taken with pípu (f. gen. sg.) ‘flute’ (l. 2) (see also LP: gangr 2): menn grípa til pípu ganga ‘men grasp the flute’s continuous sound’ (so also ÍF 30). Kock emends ganga to gǫngu which he takes as the first element in a cpd gǫngumenn (NN §1166). ON gǫngumenn means ‘beggars’, but Kock construes the meaning vandrande spelmän ‘wandering minstrels’. — [2] pípu ‘the flute’: For this instrument, see Note to ESk Lv 3/6, 8. — [6] trumbu ‘the trumpet’: Trumba ‘trumpet’ was a larger straight wind-instrument, probably somewhat like the tuba ‘war-trumpet’ of Roman antiquity (see Panum 1934, 65).
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