Note to Forað Lv 6^VIII (Ket 27)

[1, 3] Flaug ok Fífu; Hremsu ‘Flaug and Fífa; Hremsa’: These, the names of Gusi(r)’s three arrows, mean ‘Flight’ (Flaug), ‘Shaft’ (Hremsa) and/or are heiti for ‘arrow’; they appear in a list of arrow-heiti, Þul Ǫrvar 1/4, 6^III and 2/2^III; smiði Gusis ‘Gusir’s artefacts’ also occurs in the same þula at 2/4^III. The noun flaug is also used as a verbal noun referring to the flight of weapons (LP: 1. flaug), whilst Fífa ‘Arrow’ is recorded as the name of a ship in Rv Lv 8/4^II. The word fífa is also found as a plant-name (Eriophorum ‘wool grass’; Heizmann 1993a, 19, 43), and the use of this word as a designation for ‘arrow’ is thought to derive from the ‘feathers’ on the shaft (cf. Falk 1914b, 99; AEW, ÍO: fífa). Hremsa is used in the pl. as a common noun for ‘arrows’ ÞjóðA Sex 15/3^II, and in the same stanza (15/8) the arrow-kenning gjǫld Finna ‘the tribute of the Saami’ appears, suggesting a deliberate allusion to the Gusisnautar (see Note to ÞjóðA Sex 15/8^II). Similar arrow-kennings are nautar Gusis ‘Gusir’s gifts’ Refr Ferðv 5/4^III and gjǫld Finns ‘the tribute of the Saami (sg.)’ Hskv Útdr 10/3^II. These kennings from skalds of the C11th and C12th show that there must have been a story about Gusi(r) and his arrows, but we cannot know whether Ketill played any part in it. Falk (1914b, 99) interprets hremsa as a noun meaning ‘claw’ and adduces the verb hremsa = hremma ‘clutch’ (cf. AEW: hremsa; ÍO: 1 hremmsa; Fritzner: hremma, hremsa).

References

1. Bibliography
2. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
6. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
7. Heizmann, Wilhelm. 1993a. Wörterbuch der Pflanzennamen im Altwestnordischen. Ergänzungsbände zum RGA 7. Berlin: de Gruyter.
8. Internal references
9. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ǫrvar heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 818.
10. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, Ferðavísur 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 248.
11. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Halldórr skvaldri, Útfarardrápa 10’ 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. 491.
12. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 8’ 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. 585.
13. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Sexstefja 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. 127-8.