Gripla - 01.01.2000, Side 186

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GRIPLA
Sigurður accordingly proposed that the story of Giffarðr must have served as
the source for this statement in Snorri’s preface, but that suggestion has been
rejected by scholars who view the episode as a later interpolation in Morkin-
skinna (Bjami Aðalbjamason 1937:158 n. 1).
The following discussion of Giffarðsþáttr will show 1) that the story must
have been part of ÆMsk and consequently available to Snorri; 2) that the
Norman knight Giffarðr was a historical person of dubious reputation and not
a twelfth-century Icelandic fabrication; and 3) that his presence at Magnús’s
court in 1100-1101, far from being a mere coincidence, provides the motiva-
tion, which is missing in all the Old Norse-Icelandic sources, for Magnús ber-
fœttr’s second and fateful expedition to the west in 1102.
2. Giffarðsþáttr in Morkinskinna
The core of the narrative in Giffarðsþáttr is captured in a series of skaldic stan-
zas (sts 1—4 above). The poetry contains all the pertinent information, such as
the name Giffarðr (sts 2-4), his knigthly occupation (riddari; sts 1-3), his na-
tionality (valskr; sts 1-2), his age (enn hári; st. 3), as well as the name of the
place of the battle (Fuxerna; st. 4) and details about Giffarðr’s behavior during
the battle and on the joumey to England (sts 1-3).10 The skaldic stanzas would
appear to have been composed before 1150. First of all the medio-passive end-
ing -sk occurs twice in intemal rhyme (falsk: valski; sts 1-2). That ending be-
gan to change to -zc or -zt in the late twelfth century, and .?/:-rhymes are not at-
tested in the thirteenth century." Secondly, line 3 in stanza 3 contains the non-
rhotasized form vest, also in intemal rhyme (vest: kosti). The first rhotasized
forms occur in intemal rhyme as early as 1150, and nonrhotasized rhymes are
characteristic of the period prior to that date.12 The prose, too, shows signs that
are consistent with the style of the author of ÆMsk, such as inflected past par-
10 For valskr ‘Norman’ see Fritzner III 1973:847—48.
11 For the phonetic development of the mediopassive ending, see Kjartan G. Ottósson 1992
(esp.: 57-64, 116-21, 137-45). The scribes of the individual MSS that contain the stanzas in
question in most cases failed to understand the mediopassive -sk ending of their exemplars.
Consider the following variants: falsc (Mork, J2),fask (Hr),faskr (F), (sts 1-2; Finnur Jóns-
son 1912:432, 591); fasc (Mork), falk (Hr), falsc (H, J2), feckz (F) (st. 4; Finnur Jónsson
1912:437).
12 The first examples of such rhotasized -r forms in intemal rhyme in skaldic poetry occur in the
stanzas of Einarr Skúlason from around 1150 (Haraldsdrápa II, 4:2; lausavísa 1:3); vara :
fara: ert : skortir (Finnur Jónsson 1912:457, 482). The MSS contain the following variant
forms in this line: verþr (Mork), vestv (H-Hr), verstv (F) (st. 3; Finnur Jónsson 1912:437).