Keth Lv 7VIII (Ket 12)
Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 12 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 562.
Feigr er nú Finnr inn ragi,
er hann fóttreðr flein sinn rangan.
Feigr er nú inn ragi Finnr, er hann fóttreðr rangan flein sinn.
Doomed is now the cowardly Saami, since he treads underfoot his own crooked arrow.
Mss: 343a(55v), 471(52r-v) (Ket)
Readings: [3] er: at 471
Editions: Skj AII, 281, Skj BII, 303, Skald II, 160, NN §2391; FSN 2, 122, FSGJ 2, 164, Anderson 1990, 49, 92, 435; Edd. Min. 79
Context: This stanza is introduced by the words Ketill mælti ‘Ketill spoke’. It refers to Gusi’s impending doom. His remaining arrow (fleinn) appears to him to be crooked; he attempts to straighten it by stepping on it, which gives Ketill the chance to kill him. The saga relates that Gusi’s brother Brúni had caused his arrow to appear crooked by means of magic, in order that Gusi should die in any hostile encounter in which he engaged and in order that Brúni should succeed him as king. As a result of his victory over Gusi, Ketill gains possession of his excellent sword Dragvendill (Ket 36-7, 39-41 below) and of Gusi’s three arrows Flaug ‘Flight’, Hremsa ‘Shaft’ and Fífa ‘Arrow’ (see Ket 26-7).
Notes: [All]: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) unnecessarily emends all the pronouns and the verb form er in l. 1 from 3rd pers. sg. to 2nd pers. sg. in order to present the half-stanza as direct speech. — [All]: Alliteration on <f> is used in both long-lines of this stanza. — [2] inn ragi Finnr ‘the cowardly Saami’: Cf. Ket 5/6. — [3] fóttreðr ‘treads underfoot’: The cpd verb fóttroða ‘tread (troða) underfoot (fótr)’ is attested in poetry only here, but occurs in prose texts, for example in GHr ch. 33 (FSGJ 3, 258; see Fritzner: fóttroða).
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.
- FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
- Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
- Edd. Min. = Heusler, Andreas and Wilhelm Ranisch, eds. 1903. Eddica Minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und anderen Prosawerken. Dortmund: Ruhfus. Rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
- Anderson, Sarah M. 1990. ‘The Textual Transmission of Two Fornaldarsögur: Ketils saga høings and Gríms saga loðinkinna’. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University…
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Gǫngu-Hrólfs saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 298. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=89> (accessed 17 April 2024)
- Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 26 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 578.
- Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 36 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 590.
- Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 5 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 556.
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