[7] gaflak (n.) ‘javelin’: In Old Norse also gaflok, a term for a light spear and possibly a loanword from OE gafeluc ‘spear, javelin’ (< Welsh gaflach; see Falk 1914b, 72; AEW: gaflak). See also ModEngl. gavelock, now obsolete except in specific historical contexts. The heiti is not attested in Old Norse poetry until late C12th (GunnLeif Merl I 65/6VIII).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
- Internal references
- Russell Poole (ed.) 2017, ‘Breta saga 133 (Gunnlaugr Leifsson, Merlínusspá I 65)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 103.