Gusi finnakonungr, Lausavísur 2

Beatrice La Farge

[3] ok skríðr: skríðr þu 471

notes

[3] ok skríðr sem vargr af viði ‘and creeps like a wolf from the wood’: The words vargr and viðr alliterate in several other texts (HHund I 41/3-4, HHund II 33/7-8, Anon Sól 9/6^VII). The word vargr is used as a term for ‘wolf’ but also for a ‘criminal’ and occasionally ‘outlaw’ (cf. von See 1999c, 118-20). Like wolves, outlaws are associated with forests (cf. the designation of outlaws as skógarmenn ‘men of the forest’). Gusi’s characterisation of Ketill here may evoke the idea of both outlaw and wolf, as is the case in the other texts adduced above.

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skríðr ‘creeps’

(not checked:)
skríða (verb): creep, glide

[3] ok skríðr: skríðr þu 471

notes

[3] ok skríðr sem vargr af viði ‘and creeps like a wolf from the wood’: The words vargr and viðr alliterate in several other texts (HHund I 41/3-4, HHund II 33/7-8, Anon Sól 9/6^VII). The word vargr is used as a term for ‘wolf’ but also for a ‘criminal’ and occasionally ‘outlaw’ (cf. von See 1999c, 118-20). Like wolves, outlaws are associated with forests (cf. the designation of outlaws as skógarmenn ‘men of the forest’). Gusi’s characterisation of Ketill here may evoke the idea of both outlaw and wolf, as is the case in the other texts adduced above.

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sem ‘like’

(not checked:)
sem (conj.): as, which

notes

[3] ok skríðr sem vargr af viði ‘and creeps like a wolf from the wood’: The words vargr and viðr alliterate in several other texts (HHund I 41/3-4, HHund II 33/7-8, Anon Sól 9/6^VII). The word vargr is used as a term for ‘wolf’ but also for a ‘criminal’ and occasionally ‘outlaw’ (cf. von See 1999c, 118-20). Like wolves, outlaws are associated with forests (cf. the designation of outlaws as skógarmenn ‘men of the forest’). Gusi’s characterisation of Ketill here may evoke the idea of both outlaw and wolf, as is the case in the other texts adduced above.

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vargr ‘a wolf’

(not checked:)
vargr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ar): wolf

notes

[3] ok skríðr sem vargr af viði ‘and creeps like a wolf from the wood’: The words vargr and viðr alliterate in several other texts (HHund I 41/3-4, HHund II 33/7-8, Anon Sól 9/6^VII). The word vargr is used as a term for ‘wolf’ but also for a ‘criminal’ and occasionally ‘outlaw’ (cf. von See 1999c, 118-20). Like wolves, outlaws are associated with forests (cf. the designation of outlaws as skógarmenn ‘men of the forest’). Gusi’s characterisation of Ketill here may evoke the idea of both outlaw and wolf, as is the case in the other texts adduced above.

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af ‘from’

(not checked:)
af (prep.): from

notes

[3] ok skríðr sem vargr af viði ‘and creeps like a wolf from the wood’: The words vargr and viðr alliterate in several other texts (HHund I 41/3-4, HHund II 33/7-8, Anon Sól 9/6^VII). The word vargr is used as a term for ‘wolf’ but also for a ‘criminal’ and occasionally ‘outlaw’ (cf. von See 1999c, 118-20). Like wolves, outlaws are associated with forests (cf. the designation of outlaws as skógarmenn ‘men of the forest’). Gusi’s characterisation of Ketill here may evoke the idea of both outlaw and wolf, as is the case in the other texts adduced above.

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viði ‘the wood’

(not checked:)
1. viðr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -i/-; -ir, acc. -u/-i): wood, tree

notes

[3] ok skríðr sem vargr af viði ‘and creeps like a wolf from the wood’: The words vargr and viðr alliterate in several other texts (HHund I 41/3-4, HHund II 33/7-8, Anon Sól 9/6^VII). The word vargr is used as a term for ‘wolf’ but also for a ‘criminal’ and occasionally ‘outlaw’ (cf. von See 1999c, 118-20). Like wolves, outlaws are associated with forests (cf. the designation of outlaws as skógarmenn ‘men of the forest’). Gusi’s characterisation of Ketill here may evoke the idea of both outlaw and wolf, as is the case in the other texts adduced above.

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Æðru ‘words of fear’

(not checked:)
1. æðra (noun f.; °-u): [fright, subject]

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skaltu ‘You will have to’

(not checked:)
skulu (verb): shall, should, must

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mæla ‘speak’

(not checked:)
1. mæla (verb): speak, say

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ef ‘if’

(not checked:)
3. ef (conj.): if

[5] ef þú undan kemz: om. 471

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þú ‘you’

(not checked:)
þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you

[5] ef þú undan kemz: om. 471

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undan ‘’

(not checked:)
undan (adv.): away, away from

[5] ef þú undan kemz: om. 471

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kemz ‘escape’

(not checked:)
koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come

[5] ef þú undan kemz: om. 471

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þrysvar ‘three times’

(not checked:)
þrysvar (adv.): three times, thrice

[6] þrysvar fyr Þrumu: þrysvar í Þrumu firði 471

notes

[6] þrysvar fyr Þrumu ‘three times before Þruma’: The word Þrumu is usually interpreted here as the name of an island in Agder in southern Norway (cf. LP: 1. Þruma 1; Note to Þul Eyja 3/8^III). In mss 343a and 471 the place mentioned is identified in a prose remark (FSGJ 2, 161): þeir fundust fyrir Ófara-Þrumu ‘they [i.e. Ketill and Gusi] met near Ófara-Þruma’. In 471 the p. n. appears in the stanza as Þrumu firði ‘Þruma fjord’. In the reading í þrumu which appears in some mss (papp32ˣ, 109a IIˣ and 1006ˣ) the word þruma could be interpreted in another way, namely as a poetic designation for ‘battle’: as Finnur Jónsson notes (LP: 2. þruma), the common noun þruma means ‘thunder, noise’ and appears as a variant reading to the synonym þrima as a poetic designation for ‘battle’ in Þhorn Gldr 1/2^I. Since Ketill meets the Saami Gusi shortly after he leaves the home of Brúni north of Finnmark and returns to Brúni after he has killed Gusi, an island (or fjord) in southern Norway does not accord well with the geography of the saga (Ketill’s home is in Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag).

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fyr ‘before’

(not checked:)
fyr (prep.): for, over, because of, etc.

[6] þrysvar fyr Þrumu: þrysvar í Þrumu firði 471

notes

[6] þrysvar fyr Þrumu ‘three times before Þruma’: The word Þrumu is usually interpreted here as the name of an island in Agder in southern Norway (cf. LP: 1. Þruma 1; Note to Þul Eyja 3/8^III). In mss 343a and 471 the place mentioned is identified in a prose remark (FSGJ 2, 161): þeir fundust fyrir Ófara-Þrumu ‘they [i.e. Ketill and Gusi] met near Ófara-Þruma’. In 471 the p. n. appears in the stanza as Þrumu firði ‘Þruma fjord’. In the reading í þrumu which appears in some mss (papp32ˣ, 109a IIˣ and 1006ˣ) the word þruma could be interpreted in another way, namely as a poetic designation for ‘battle’: as Finnur Jónsson notes (LP: 2. þruma), the common noun þruma means ‘thunder, noise’ and appears as a variant reading to the synonym þrima as a poetic designation for ‘battle’ in Þhorn Gldr 1/2^I. Since Ketill meets the Saami Gusi shortly after he leaves the home of Brúni north of Finnmark and returns to Brúni after he has killed Gusi, an island (or fjord) in southern Norway does not accord well with the geography of the saga (Ketill’s home is in Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag).

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Þrumu ‘Þruma’

(not checked:)
6. Þruma (noun f.): Tromøy

[6] þrysvar fyr Þrumu: þrysvar í Þrumu firði 471

notes

[6] þrysvar fyr Þrumu ‘three times before Þruma’: The word Þrumu is usually interpreted here as the name of an island in Agder in southern Norway (cf. LP: 1. Þruma 1; Note to Þul Eyja 3/8^III). In mss 343a and 471 the place mentioned is identified in a prose remark (FSGJ 2, 161): þeir fundust fyrir Ófara-Þrumu ‘they [i.e. Ketill and Gusi] met near Ófara-Þruma’. In 471 the p. n. appears in the stanza as Þrumu firði ‘Þruma fjord’. In the reading í þrumu which appears in some mss (papp32ˣ, 109a IIˣ and 1006ˣ) the word þruma could be interpreted in another way, namely as a poetic designation for ‘battle’: as Finnur Jónsson notes (LP: 2. þruma), the common noun þruma means ‘thunder, noise’ and appears as a variant reading to the synonym þrima as a poetic designation for ‘battle’ in Þhorn Gldr 1/2^I. Since Ketill meets the Saami Gusi shortly after he leaves the home of Brúni north of Finnmark and returns to Brúni after he has killed Gusi, an island (or fjord) in southern Norway does not accord well with the geography of the saga (Ketill’s home is in Namdalen in Nord-Trøndelag).

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