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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Anon Mhkv 6III

[2] gafa ‘a fool’: M. nom. sg. gafi ‘buffoon, griffon’: a crux. See LP, LP (1860), AEW: gafi; Fritzner IV: gafe. The word gafi ‘griffon’ translates Lat. gryps ‘griffon’, the four-footed bird of fable, in Stjórn (Unger 1862, 316; Levit XI.12-13). Cf. ON gafi ‘gull’ < Lat. gavia ‘sea-bird’, and especially Isidore, Etym. 12.2.17 on the dreaded gripes, part lion, part eagle, born in the distant Hyperborean mountains, which ‘tear humans apart when they see them’. For gafi ‘buffoon’, cf. OE gaff, gegaf ‘foolish behaviour’, gafspræc ‘gossip, ribaldry’ and saga-proverbs such as in Grettis saga (Gr ch. 59, ÍF 7, 189): spyrja mun þér bezt þykkja við hann at eiga ‘hearsay will be the safest way for you to handle him’; Hœnsa Þóris saga (ch. 6, ÍF 3, 18): spyrja er bezt til váligra þegna ‘it is best only to hear about wicked men’; also Fóstbrœðra saga (Fbr ch. 4, ÍF 6, 137); so Möbius (1874) followed by Wisén (1886-9, I): ‘vir improbus’.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Unger, C. R., ed. 1862. Stjorn. Gammelnorsk bibelhistorie fra verdens skabelse til det babyloniske fangenskab. Christiania (Oslo): Feilberg og Landmarks forlag.
  3. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
  4. Wisén, Theodor, ed. 1886-9. Carmina Norrœnæ: Ex reliquiis vetustioris norrœnæ poësis selecta, recognita, commentariis et glossario instructa. 2 vols. Lund: Ohlsson.
  5. ÍF 3 = Borgfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Sigurður Nordal and Guðni Jónsson. 1938.
  6. ÍF 6 = Vestfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Björn K. Þórólfsson and Guðni Jónsson. 1943.
  7. Fritzner IV = Hødnebø, Finn. 1972. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog af Dr. Johan Fritzner: Rettelser og tillegg. Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
  8. ÍF 7 = Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. Ed. Guðni Jónsson. 1936.
  9. Möbius, Theodor. 1874. ‘Malshatta-kvædi’. ZDP Ergänzungsband, 3-73, 615-16.
  10. Internal references
  11. (forthcoming), ‘ Anonymous, Fóstbrœðra saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=7> (accessed 21 May 2024)
  12. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 640-806. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=70> (accessed 21 May 2024)
  13. Not published: do not cite ()

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