[2] Fífa: Lit. ‘cotton-grass’, originally the name of a plant (Eriophorum) and here referring to an arrow with a plume. This is another of King Gusir’s arrows (see also Flaug st. 1/4, Hremsa st. 1/6 and smíðis Gusis ‘Gusir’s handiwork’ st. 2/4). Fífa ‘Arrow’ is also the name of a ship (see Falk 1914b, 99 and Rv Lv 8/5II). Fífa as a heiti for ‘arrow’ in general does not occur in poetry earlier than in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: fífa).
References
- Bibliography
- Finnur Jónsson. 1926-8. Ordbog til de af samfund til udg. af gml. nord. litteratur udgivne Rímur samt til de af Dr. O. Jiriczek udgivne Bósarímur. SUGNL 51. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- Internal references
- Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 585.