Note to Anon Gát 3III
[9] gildligan gnúp ‘a massive peak’: Skj B proposes múli ‘mountain peak’, corresponding with tyrðilmúli ‘razorbill’ (Alca torda; Þul Fugla 4/6). Árni glossed ‘ha hella’, printed (háhella) in SnE 1848; this is not a known Old Norse word, but is clearly a cpd from há ‘high’ and hella ‘rock, table-land’, which fits the clue. If there was a corresponding bird-name, however, it is no longer known. Possibly cf. hávella ‘long-tailed duck’; see Note to Anon Gát 2/5. Ms. 1562ˣ glosses this line ‘lomur’; lómr is ‘red-throated diver (US ‘loon’)’ (Gavia stellata). The relevance to a ‘massive peak’ perhaps comes from such an Icelandic p. n. as Lómagnúpur, the 688m high promontory on the south coast, which features in Njáls saga (Nj ch. 133, ÍF 12, 346). This is unlikely to be the original solution, however.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- SnE 1848 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
- ÍF 12 = Brennu-Njáls saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1954.
- Internal references
- Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Gátur 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 634.
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Njáls 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, pp. 1220-1313. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=55> (accessed 27 April 2024)
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fugla heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 955.