Þá sá ek fljúga þriðja sinni:
silki saumat ok sænska menn,
Gunnlaugs bana ok goða brenni,
kú kollótta ok kvíslatré,
gnúp gildligan; gettu, hvat þeir heita!
Þá sá ek fljúga þriðja sinni: saumat silki ok sænska menn, bana Gunnlaugs ok brenni goða, kollótta kú ok kvíslatré, gildligan gnúp; gettu, hvat þeir heita!
Then I saw fly a third time: sewn silk and Swedish men, Gunnlaugr’s slayer and burner of gods, cow without horns and a forked tree, a massive peak; guess what they are called!
[9] gildligan gnúp ‘a massive peak’: Skj B proposes múli ‘mountain peak’, corresponding with tyrðilmúli ‘razorbill’ (Alca torda; Þul Fugla 4/6). Árni glossed ‘ha hella’, printed (háhella) in SnE 1848; this is not a known Old Norse word, but is clearly a cpd from há ‘high’ and hella ‘rock, table-land’, which fits the clue. If there was a corresponding bird-name, however, it is no longer known. Possibly cf. hávella ‘long-tailed duck’; see Note to Anon Gát 2/5. Ms. 1562ˣ glosses this line ‘lomur’; lómr is ‘red-throated diver (US ‘loon’)’ (Gavia stellata). The relevance to a ‘massive peak’ perhaps comes from such an Icelandic p. n. as Lómagnúpur, the 688m high promontory on the south coast, which features in Njáls saga (Nj ch. 133, ÍF 12, 346). This is unlikely to be the original solution, however.