Gusi Lv 3^VIII (Ket 6)

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.

Mss: 343a(55v) (Ket)

Editions: Skj AII, 280, Skj BII, 301, Skald II, 159, FF §42; FSN 2, 120, FSGJ 2, 161, Anderson 1990, 48, 433-4; Edd. Min. 78.

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.

Notes: [All]: 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. — [3] gjarn til gunnar ‘eager for battle’: This alliterative expression occurs elsewhere in Old Norse poetry, albeit without the prep. til; cf. Ǫrv 7/3, Hálf 36/7 and HHund I 34/7. — [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 5/3^IV. 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

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
6. Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
7. Anderson, Sarah M. 1990. ‘The Textual Transmission of Two Fornaldarsögur: Ketils saga høings and Gríms saga loðinkinna’. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University…
8. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Not published: do not cite (GOdds Lv 5^IV)
12. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 36 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 333.
13. 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.
14. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 4 (Gusi finnakonungr, Lausavísur 2)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 555.
15. 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.
16. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 5 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 556.
17. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 7 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 4)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 558.
18. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Ǫrvar-Odds saga 7 (Ǫrvar-Oddr, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 819.