[5-7]: I.e. ‘we should try to kill one another’. The expression at rjóða flein ‘redden the javelin’ (or any sharp-pointed weapon, cf. LP: fleinn) belongs to a very common kind of circumlocution meaning ‘do battle, kill’ (cf. LP: rjóða 2) and is used in GOdds Lv 5/3IV. It is possible, however, that fleinn here refers specifically to an arrow, as Gusi was famous for his ownership of three magic arrows (see Note to Ket 27/1, 3 below).
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.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite (GOdds Lv 5IV)
- Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 27 (Forað, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 579.