[1] gekkt ‘you went’: The mss again present 3rd pers. narration, but here there is no noun to function as the subject of a 3rd pers. gekk, and (more importantly) there is a switch from 3rd to 2nd pers. within the same line. The 2nd pers. unnuð ‘you fought’ must be original, rather than a 3rd pers. vann, as it supplies both alliteration and the correct number of syllables for the line. Emendation to gekkt results in a fluctuation between 2nd pers. sg. and pl. verbs (gekkt – unnuð), but this is paralleled in this poem, and in Ótt Hfl. Skj B, Skald and Knýtl 1919-25 all emend to 2nd pers. gek(k)t; ÍF 35 alone retains 3rd pers. gekk.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
- Knýtl 1919-25 = Petersens, Carl af and Emil Olsen, eds. 1919-25. Sǫgur danakonunga. 1: Sǫgubrot af fornkonungum. 2: Knýtlinga saga. SUGNL 66. Copenhagen: SUGNL.
- Internal references
- Matthew Townend 2012, ‘ Óttarr svarti, Hǫfuðlausn’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 739. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1340> (accessed 19 April 2024)