GunnLeif Merl II 57VIII/4 — ǫlðri ‘ale-drinking’
‘Lifir in danska drótt at holdi,
gerir eyvit sér ǫlðri at móti.
Því munu in tígnu tíðmǫrk himins
ljósi sínu frá lýð snúa.
‘In danska drótt lifir at holdi, gerir eyvit sér at móti ǫlðri. Því munu in tígnu tíðmǫrk himins snúa ljósi sínu frá lýð.
‘The Danish people will live on meat, do nothing to resist ale-drinking. Therefore the glorious time-markers of heaven [HEAVENLY BODIES] will turn their light away from the nation.
readings
[4] ǫlðri: ǫlð Hb
notes
[4] ǫlðri ‘ale-drinking’: Emended from ms. ǫlð (refreshed) (Poole 2009a, 312). The Hb text features regular use of superscript contraction for <ri>, e.g. in eit<ri> (fol. 51r l. 16), which could easily be obscured by refreshing. For the sentiment, compare ofdrykkja ‘excessive drinking’ (II 56/7); also II 52/3-4. The ms. reading is retained in Bret 1848-9, Skj B and Skald, evidently in the sense of ‘people’; in Skj B ll. 3-4 are translated loosely as og gör intet mod sig selv (sine lyster) ‘and does nothing against itself (its pleasures)’ (Bret 1848-9 similarly). Merl 2012 also retains the ms. reading, but with translation of ǫlð as Schicksal ‘fate’, which is hard to account for unless by confusion with ørlǫg ‘fate’.