[8] fíkjum ‘hugely’: The dat. pl. of the adj. fíkr ‘eager, greedy’ is sometimes used as an adv. modifying an adj., as here and in Bjbp Jóms 12/6I, 26/8I and 41/6I (LP: fíkr; CVC: fíkjum). The speaker’s folksy aside – ‘I was told it was hugely strong’ – seems ingenuous, intended to provoke a smile.
References
- Bibliography
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Internal references
- Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa 12’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 969.