Note to Arn Magndr 3II
[7-8] í geystu veðri gífrs ‘in [their] troubled gale of the troll-woman [MIND]’: Geystr, lit. ‘made to rush, rushing, aroused’, can mean ‘disturbed, troubled, upset’ in a figurative sense (see Fritzner: geystr 2); it can also mean ‘powerful’, as when applied to the wolf’s greed in Skarp Lv 5/7V. Veðri (ms. ‘vedr’) is a small emendation necessary to metre and syntax. The dat. case is indicated by the prep. í and the n. dat. sg. adj. geystu. Kennings on the pattern ‘wind of the troll-woman’ can refer either to ‘mind, thought’ or to ‘courage’ (as in Gsind Hákdr 8I). See also Stúfr Stúfdr 1/3. Given the possible meanings of geystr and veðr gífrs, the phrase as a whole could refer (a) to the gramr ‘prince’ (Magnús) and mean ‘in his raging, mighty spirit’, or (b) to the ferð Jaðarbyggva ‘the host of the people of Jæren’ and mean ‘in their troubled thoughts’. It was suggested above that ferð is likely to be the implied subject of bað in l. 7. Í geystu veðri gífrs then yields the best sense if it is construed with (the understood) ferð, and this analysis is followed here (as also Skald and NN).
References
- Bibliography
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- Internal references
- Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Guthormr sindri, Hákonardrápa 8’ 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. 168.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Stúfr inn blindi Þórðarson kattar, Stúfsdrápa 1’ 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. 351.
- R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 21 (Skarpheðinn Njálsson, Lausavísur 5)’ 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. 1246.