An early icelandic attestation of Þveit ‘Thwaite’

ÞVEIT 'THWAITE'The word thwaite in English and its cognates in the Scandinavian languages and Norman French are preserved almost exclusively as placenames: thus the simplex Thwaite is a placename in England, Tveit or Tveita in Norway, Tvede in Denmark, Tveta in Sweden, Twatt in Shetland and Orkney, and (Le) Thuit in Normandy.As second element in compounds, -thwaite occurs frequently in English placenames, for instance Armathwaite and Bassenthwaite, with greatest prevalence in the north but with outliers in Norfolk and Suffolk and elsewhere. 1Correspondingly in Normandy Longtuit and Miltuit are attested, along with numerous other compounds with second element -tuit. 2 The contention of this article is that a hitherto unrecognized attestation of the Old Icelandic cognate of 'thwaite', þveit, is preserved in a skaldic poem.This example, if valid, would constitute a rare instance of the word being used as a common noun.According to the Old Icelandic Egils saga, the eponymous hero speaks the following verse upon hearing of the death of his protector and friend Arinbjǫrn hersir: Þverra n� u, Þeirs þverrðu, þingbirtingar Ingva, (hvar skalk mildra manna) mjaðveitar dag (leita), þeiras hauks fyr handan h� afjǫll digulsnj� avi jarðar gjǫrð við orðum eyneglða m� er heglðu?