Anon Mhkv 6III/2 — gafa ‘of a fool’
Fylki skal til frægðar hafa;
fregna eigum langt til gafa;
oddar gerva jarli megin;
útsker verða af bárum þvegin.
Ýmsir bjóða ǫðrum fár;
ormar skríða ór hamsi á vár;
vel hefr sá, er þat líða lætr;
langar eiga þeir bersi nætr.
Til frægðar skal hafa fylki; eigum fregna langt til gafa; oddar gerva jarli megin; útsker verða þvegin af bárum. Ýmsir bjóða ǫðrum fár; ormar skríða ór hamsi á vár; sá hefr vel, er lætr þat líða; þeir bersi eiga langar nætr.
One shall have a prince for glory; we ought to hear of a fool from far off; spears give strength to a jarl; outer skerries are washed by waves. Many offer harm to another; snakes slither from their slough in spring; he comes off well who lets it pass by; a bear and his kind have long nights.
readings
[2] gafa: ‘gava’ R
notes
[2] gafa ‘a fool’: M. nom. sg. gafi ‘buffoon, griffon’: a crux. See LP, LP (1860), AEW: gafi; Fritzner IV: gafe. The word gafi ‘griffon’ translates Lat. gryps ‘griffon’, the four-footed bird of fable, in Stjórn (Unger 1862, 316; Levit XI.12-13). Cf. ON gafi ‘gull’ < Lat. gavia ‘sea-bird’, and especially Isidore, Etym. 12.2.17 on the dreaded gripes, part lion, part eagle, born in the distant Hyperborean mountains, which ‘tear humans apart when they see them’. For gafi ‘buffoon’, cf. OE gaff, gegaf ‘foolish behaviour’, gafspræc ‘gossip, ribaldry’ and saga-proverbs such as in Grettis saga (Gr ch. 59, ÍF 7, 189): spyrja mun þér bezt þykkja við hann at eiga ‘hearsay will be the safest way for you to handle him’; Hœnsa Þóris saga (ch. 6, ÍF 3, 18): spyrja er bezt til váligra þegna ‘it is best only to hear about wicked men’; also Fóstbrœðra saga (Fbr ch. 4, ÍF 6, 137); so Möbius (1874) followed by Wisén (1886-9, I): ‘vir improbus’.