Refr Giz 3III/2 — gautr ‘gautr’
Þér eigum vér veigar,
Valgautr, salar brautar
Fals, hrannvala, fannar,
framr valdr, ramar gjalda.
Valgautr, vér eigum gjalda þér ramar veigar salar Fals brautar fannar, framr valdr hrannvala.
Valgautr <= Óðinn = Gizurr>, we have to repay you for the powerful drinks of the hall of the Falr <dwarf> of the path of the snow-drift [MOUNTAINS > GIANT = Suttungr > CAVE > POETRY], outstanding owner of wave-horses [SHIPS > SEAFARER].
readings
[2] ‑gautr: ‘ge᷎tr’ B
notes
[2] Valgautr: Lit. ‘Gautr of the fallen’. This is a heiti for Óðinn that is also listed in the þulur (see Þul Óðins 8/8 and Note there). It is not a kenning, because Gautr alone denotes Óðinn (Falk 1924, 11; LP: Gautr). Valgautr in this stanza has previously been interpreted as an invocation to Óðinn, and the stanza as a prayer of gratitude for the gift of poetry (see Note to [All] above). According to the present interpretation, the recipient of the stanza is addressed both as Valgautr and as valdr hrannvala ‘owner of the wave-horses [SHIPS > SEAFARER]’. The second kenning is a regular kenning for ‘seafarer’, however, and has nothing to do with Óðinn. Valgautr, as a heiti for Óðinn, must be a variant of another Óðinn-heiti, namely Gizurr (see Þul Óðins 1/5). That the pers. n. Gizurr was associated with Óðinn is shown by the play on ‘Óðinn’ (= Gizurr) and ‘Gautr’ (= Gizurr) in a lausavísa by Sturla Þórðarson (Sturl Lv 4/4, 8IV) referring to the trouble-making Gizurr jarl Þorvaldsson. Sturla’s stanza also establishes that, if a particular pers. n. was identical to an Óðinn-heiti, it could be replaced by another heiti for Óðinn. The use of ‘Óðinn’ and ‘Gautr’ for the pers. n. Gizurr in Sturla’s lausavísa is polemical, and the stanza portrays Gizurr jarl as a deceitful traitor. Nothing of this sort could be intended in Refr’s poem; rather, Refr calls Gizurr by one of Óðinn’s names because to him, Gizurr played the role of Óðinn: he brought the mead of poetry to the poet and taught him how to compose poems. Hence this stanza, like the previous two stanzas of the poem, highlights the religious views of Refr, who composed his works during the decades following Iceland’s conversion to Christianity (see his Biography above). They show that Óðinn must have been of central importance to him as a skald, which makes it highly unlikely that Refr had adopted the new faith.