[4]: An alternative reading (so 471) is lítit er skegg á karli ‘there is little beard on the man’. This reading is preferred by Skj B and Skald. It is indubitably an insult which implies that the opponent is old (hairless and feeble) or not a ‘real man’ (cf. the derogatory remark about the beardless Njáll in Nj chs 41, 44, ÍF 12, 107, 113). A similar remark about an opponent’s beard appears in Ket 38/1.
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 12 = Brennu-Njáls saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1954.
- Internal references
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Njáls saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1220-1313. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=55> (accessed 7 May 2024)
- Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 38 (Framarr víkingakonungr, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 593.