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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Gusi Lv 3VIII (Ket 6)

Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 6 (Gusi finnakonungr, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 557.

Gusi finnakonungrLausavísur
234

text and translation

Hverr er á öndrum         öndverðan dag
gjarn til gunnar         í grimmum hug?
Vit skulum freista         flein at rjóða
hvárr at öðrum,         nema hugr bili.

Hverr er á öndrum öndverðan dag, gjarn til gunnar í grimmum hug? Vit skulum freista at rjóða flein hvárr at öðrum, nema hugr bili.
 
‘Who is that on skis in the first part of the day, eager for battle in a hostile frame of mind? We two must try to redden the javelin, each on the other, unless our courage fails.

notes and context

In this stanza Gusi asks Ketill a second time who he is; it is introduced in 343a by the words: Gusir kvað vísu ‘Gusir spoke a stanza’. Ket 6-11, comprising Gusi Lv 3-5, alternating with Keth Lv 4-6, follow immediately one after the other with only speaker designations (Ketill / Gusir kvað) between one stanza and the next.

This stanza and Keth Lv 4 (Ket 7) are missing from 471, supporting the possibility, first argued in Edd. Min. lxxii, that they are doublets of Gusi Lv 2 (Ket 4) and Keth Lv 3 (Ket 5). — [1-2]: The words öndrum and öndverðan alliterate and rhyme with one another. — [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).

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], E. 8. Vers af Fornaldarsagaer: Af Ketill hœngs saga II 2 b: AII, 280, BII, 301, Skald II, 159, FF §42; FSN 2, 120FSGJ 2, 161, Anderson 1990, 48, 433-4; Edd. Min. 78.

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