vetrnáttaskeið and the “third Vetrnætr” deadline

OLD NORSE

Þeir sendu þau orð, at konungr láti búa veizluna … En þeir kváðust mundu til koma um vetrnátta skeið … Ek strengi þess heit, at ek skal rekit hafa Aðalráð englakonung af ríki sínu fyrir hinar þriðju vetrnætr eða feldan hann…

TRANSLATION

They sent word that the king should prepare the feast … and said that they would come during/about the Vetrnætr period … I vow that before the third Vetrnætr I shall have driven King Æthelred of England from his realm or killed him…

DIRECTLY ATTESTED:

vetrnáttaskeið dates arrival for a feast; a vow uses fyrir hinar þriðju vetrnætr as a future deadline.

CONTEXTUAL:

The vow is future-oriented and belongs beside the explicit multi-year Grágás construction when evaluating the phrase “third Vetrnætr.”

MY INTERPRETATION:

Together with Grágás, this strongly cautions against assuming that hinar þriðju vetrnætr means the third consecutive night of a single festival.

NOT ESTABLISHED:

That the phrase proves a three-night Vetrnætr observance.

QUOTED FROM:

Jómsvíkinga saga, Norrøne bokverk text; the same narrative complex has multiple manuscript/recensional witnesses.

FIND IT YOURSELF:

Search: um vetrnátta skeið

Also: fyrir hinar þriðju vetrnætr

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