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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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GunnLeif Merl I 69VIII/6 — víg ‘killing’

‘Falla fyrðar         í fleindrífu;
verðr enskri þjóð         aldrspell skipat.
Es vǫllr roðinn         en víg boðin;
hlýtr hôvan sigr         helmingr Breta.

‘Fyrðar falla í fleindrífu; aldrspell verðr skipat enskri þjóð. Vǫllr es roðinn en víg boðin; helmingr Breta hlýtr hôvan sigr.

‘Men will fall in the arrow-blizzard [BATTLE]; loss of life will be allotted for the English people. The field will be stained red and killing proffered; the forcè of Britons will win a great victory.

notes

[6] víg ‘killing’: The heiti can mean either ‘killing’ or ‘battle’ and it is often difficult to distinguish between these senses (cf. LP: víg), but context in this passage seems to suggest the former. Bret 1848-9 has Slagmarken den röde bedækkes af Döde ‘the red battlefield is covered with the dead’ (an atypically free translation, perhaps intended to match the end-rhyme in the original) and Skj B mandefald sker ‘slaughter of men occurs’.

grammar

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