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The base-word of the kenning, andspillir ‘confidant’, is found only here,
but the corresponding abstract andspilli n. ‘confidential talk’ is attested
in both skaldic and eddic poems, for instance by Sigvatr (vestv 2) and in
Guðrúnarkviða II, 11.9 The last citation is particularly interesting in light
of the numerous other parallels between Guðr II and Gísli’s poetry.10 It
seems therefore safe to regard andspillir as a word for ‘confidant; intimate
friend’. The question remains, however, why Gísli is referring to himself
as “the confidant of the people of Agder”.
The standard interpretation of Egða andspillir has been that this is
a kenning for ‘Norwegian’, and that it reflects the fact that Gísli was
born and raised in Norway. This interpretation is already in Sveinbjörn
Egilsson’s original Lexicon poeticum in Latin from 1860:
ANNSPILLIR, m., qui colloquium habet cum aliquo, familiaris
alicui: a. Agða, qui cum Agdensibus sermones miscet, familiaris
Agdensium, vir Norvegicus, GS. 10.11
The same interpretation is reproduced, but more condensed and in Danish
in both editions of the Lexicon poeticum by Finnur Jónsson (1913–1916;
been an ija-stem derived from a primary place-name *Agð (now lost) to which the provin-
cial name Agðir (f. pl., older *Agðar, an ō-stem) later was formed as a kind of collective (cf.
Alf Torp, “Gamalnorsk ordavleiding”, Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, ed. by Marius
Hægstad and Alf Torp (Kristiania: Det Norske Samlaget, 1909), xxviii, as well as the cor-
rect ija-stem formation acc. pl. Egða in BjHall Kalffl 2, ca. 1050, skP I, 880). In the gen. pl.
of an ija-stem like Egðir one would expect i-mutation, and the attested form (outside Gísla
saga) is indeed Egða. The first, genitival parts of Rogaland and Þelamǫrk should most likely
be explained differently: these cannot be old i-formations as previously held (cf., e.g., Adolf
Noreen, Altisländische und altnorwegische grammatik (laut- und flexionslehre) unter berück-
sichtigung des urnordischen, 4th ed. (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1923), § 392, and latest Dietrich
Hofmann, “Hálogaland – Rogaland – Þelamǫrk. Zur Entwicklung der i­Deklination im
Urnordischen”, Arkiv för nordisk filologi 97 (1982): 144–54), but may, however, be remnants
of old a-stems (Proto-Nordic pl. *rugōʀ and *þelōʀ, respectively), which in due course were
replaced by ija- and (later) i-stem formations (cf. ON Rygir and Þilir).
9 See Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis. Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog
(= Lex.poet.). Oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. Forøget og påny udgivet for Det
Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab ved Finnur Jónsson, 2nd ed. (København: I kommis-
sion hos Lynge & Søn, 1931), s.v. andspilli.
10 See Magnus Olsen, “Gísla saga og heltediktningen”, Festskrift til Finnur jónsson den 29. maj
1928, ed. by Johs. Brøndum-Nielsen et al. (København: Levin & Munksgaards Forlag,
1928), 6–14.
11 Sveinbjörn Egilsson, Lexicon poëticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis (Hafniæ: J.D. Qvist &
Comp, 1860), s.v. annspillir.
Gí SLI Sú RSSON AS E G ð A A n D s P I L L I R