GunnLeif Merl II 50VIII
Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 50 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá II 50)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 177.
Langt es at tína, þats lofða vinr
of aldar far ýtum sagði.
Es fæst í því fagrt at heyra;
lætk líða þat ok lok segja.
Es langt at tína, þats vinr lofða sagði ýtum of far aldar. Fæst es fagrt at heyra í því; lætk þat líða ok segja lok.
It is long to compile what the friend of the people told men concerning the course of the age. Very little of it is pleasant to hear; I will let it go by and tell the conclusion.
Mss: Hb(50v) (Bret)
Editions: Skj AII, 19, Skj BII, 20, Skald II, 13; Bret 1848-9, II, 33 (Bret st. 50); Hb 1892-6, 276; Merl 2012, 113.
Notes: [All]: From this point in Merl the use of the prophecies in DGB becomes more selective. Cf. I 93/7-8, which states that sumt ‘some’ of the prophecies to be found in Gunnlaugr’s source are translated, but not all of them. — [2] vinr lofða ‘the friend of the people’: The reference is to Merlin; cf. vinr gumna ‘the friend of the people’ in I 20/1. — [5-6]: Perhaps in particular an allusion to prophecy 54, which describes a battle between a dragon and a naked giant (Reeve and Wright 2007, 156‑7); similar motifs occur in subsequent prophecies.
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- 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.
- Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
- Reeve, Michael D., and Neil Wright. 2007. Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings of Britain. An Edition and Translation of De gestis Britonum [Historia regum Britanniae]. Woodbridge: Boydell.
- Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
- Internal references
- 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 19 April 2024)
Stanza/chapter/text segment
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
Information tab
- text: if the stanza has been published, the edited text of the stanza and translation are here; if it hasn't been published an old edition (usually Skj) is given for reference
- sources: a list of the manuscripts or inscriptions containing this stanza, with page and line references and links (eye button) to images where available, and transcription where available
- readings: a list of variant manuscript readings of words in the main text
- editions and texts: a list of editions of the stanza with links to the bibliography; and a list of prose works in which the stanza occurs, allowing you to navigate within the prose context
- notes and context: notes not linked to individual words are given here, along with the account of the prose context for the stanza, where relevant
Interactive tab
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
Full text tab
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
Chapter/text segment
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.