Anon Krm 8VIII/7 — gæta ‘keep track’
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hafa gátu þá rafnar
fyrir Inndyriseyju
ærna bráð at slíta.
Fengum fálu hestum
fullan verð at sinni
— ilt var eins at gæta —
með uppruna sólar.
Strenghömlur sá ek stíga;
stökk málmr á skör hjálmi.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Þá gátu rafnar hafa ærna bráð at slíta fyrir Inndyriseyju. Fengum hestum fálu fullan verð at sinni með uppruna sólar; ilt var at gæta eins. Ek sá strenghömlur stíga; málmr stökk á skör hjálmi.
We hewed with the sword. Ravens then obtained plenty of flesh to tear off Inndyrisey. We provided horses of the giantess [WOLVES] with a full meal on that occasion at the rising of the sun; it was hard to keep track of individuals. I saw bow-stringsticks [ARROWS] ascending; metal leapt at rim of helmet.
readings
[7] gæta (‘gęta’): ‘[…]’ 147(108r), ‘gęta’ with ‘geta Worm.’ in margin 6ˣ, ‘getu’ R702ˣ, geta LR, R693ˣ
notes
[7] at gæta eins ‘to keep track of individuals’: This understanding of the phrase was recognised by Pfeiffer (1860, 225, 239), with his glossing of gæta as sorgen, achten ‘look out for’ and eins as im einzelnen, genau ‘individually, in detail’; similarly Wisén (1886-9, II, 107), and Finnur Jónsson (1893b, 165; Skj B). Rafn (1826, 9, 111), on the other hand, had understood it as sig at vogte, at vogte paa een ‘watch out for oneself’, an understanding perhaps influenced by the use in Modern Scandinavian of en ‘one’ to refer in certain contexts to an indefinite person regarded as typical of every person (cf. Wellander 1965, 261-2).