Note to Rloð Lv 4VIII (Ragn 8)
[3-4]: The question here is whether ll. 3-4 are to be understood as meaning: ‘will be very like his mother (i.e. Áslaug) and called his father’s (i.e. Ragnarr’s) son’ (with móður taken as dat. and föður as gen.), or ‘and will be considered (kallaðr ‘said to be’) a son very like his mother’s father’ (with móður taken as gen. and föður as dat., and ‘his mother’s father’ referring to Sigurðr Fáfnisbani). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) plumps for the former, simpler alternative (perhaps rather surprisingly), as does the present ed., along with Örnólfur Thorsson (Ragn 1985) and Larrington (2010, 62-3). Olsen (Ragn 1906-8, 200-1), on the other hand, adopts the latter alternative, justifying the dependence of gen. móður in l. 3 on the noun föður, which is somewhat far removed from it in l. 4, by reference to Ragn 9 (see below), where gen. Brynhildar in l. 1 depends on the even more distant dóttur in l. 3.
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.
- Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
- Larrington, Carolyne. 2010. ‘Þóra and Áslaug in Ragnars saga loðbrókar’. In Arnold et al. 2010, 53-68.
- Ragn 1985 = Örnólfur Thorsson 1985, 101-53.
- Internal references
- Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 9 (Ragnarr loðbrók, Lausavísur 5)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 642.