[5] réðusk ‘destroyed each other’: (a) Ráða occurs with the meaning ‘betray’ or ‘seal another’s fate’, often specifically by killing or causing death (see LP: ráða 9), and ráða e-n can mean ‘plot someone’s death’ (Fritzner: ráða 7). The juxtaposition of ráða in this sense with nær ‘almost’ is matched in ÞjóðA Magnfl 15/8. (b) The alternative translation ‘attacked each other’ is suggested by the context and would be supported by idioms with that sense such as ráða(sk) á and ráða til e-s, or expressions where ráðask implies motion, such as ráðask þangat ‘make one’s way there’, ráðask frá ‘leave’.
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.
- 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
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Magnússflokkr 15’ 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, pp. 82-3.