Keth Lv 11VIII (Ket 16)
Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 16 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 11)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 566.
Hvat ‘What’
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hvat (pron.): what
er ‘is’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
flagða ‘ogress’
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flagð (noun n.): troll-woman
er ‘whom’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
á ‘on’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
fornu ‘the ancient’
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forn (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): ancient, old
nesi ‘headland’
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nes (noun n.; °-s; -, gen. -ja): headland
[2] nesi: nesi ok glottir við guma 471
At ‘while’
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3. at (prep.): at, to
notes
[3] at uppiverandi sólu ‘while the sun is up’: This expression is a prepositional phrase which closely resembles an ablative absolute in Latin: at + p. p. in the dat. (verandi ‘being’ = pres. p. of vera ‘be’). A more lit. translation would be ‘with the sun being up’. Such constructions are more common in Old Norse prose texts, but Hárb 58/2 provides a very similar example from eddic poetry (see also the examples cited in NS §229 Anm. 2; Nygaard 1879, 207; Fritzner: at 11; ONP: at I. + dat. C. (temp.) 1).
uppiverandi ‘is up’
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uppiverandi
notes
[3] at uppiverandi sólu ‘while the sun is up’: This expression is a prepositional phrase which closely resembles an ablative absolute in Latin: at + p. p. in the dat. (verandi ‘being’ = pres. p. of vera ‘be’). A more lit. translation would be ‘with the sun being up’. Such constructions are more common in Old Norse prose texts, but Hárb 58/2 provides a very similar example from eddic poetry (see also the examples cited in NS §229 Anm. 2; Nygaard 1879, 207; Fritzner: at 11; ONP: at I. + dat. C. (temp.) 1).
sólu ‘the sun’
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sól (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir): sun
notes
[3] at uppiverandi sólu ‘while the sun is up’: This expression is a prepositional phrase which closely resembles an ablative absolute in Latin: at + p. p. in the dat. (verandi ‘being’ = pres. p. of vera ‘be’). A more lit. translation would be ‘with the sun being up’. Such constructions are more common in Old Norse prose texts, but Hárb 58/2 provides a very similar example from eddic poetry (see also the examples cited in NS §229 Anm. 2; Nygaard 1879, 207; Fritzner: at 11; ONP: at I. + dat. C. (temp.) 1).
er ‘’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: hefi ek önga fyrr 471
notes
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: This anaphoric use of the rel. particle er at the beginning of the second half-line of a long-line is typical of ljóðaháttr (cf. NK II: er; Gering 1903: es I. A. 1; LP: es 9). Here it would refer to the first half-line At uppiverandi sólu and perhaps could be rendered in conjunction with the whole sentence At … litit as: ‘While the sun is up, then (er) I have seen not a single one more ugly’.
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: hefi ek önga fyrr 471
notes
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: This anaphoric use of the rel. particle er at the beginning of the second half-line of a long-line is typical of ljóðaháttr (cf. NK II: er; Gering 1903: es I. A. 1; LP: es 9). Here it would refer to the first half-line At uppiverandi sólu and perhaps could be rendered in conjunction with the whole sentence At … litit as: ‘While the sun is up, then (er) I have seen not a single one more ugly’.
notes
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: This anaphoric use of the rel. particle er at the beginning of the second half-line of a long-line is typical of ljóðaháttr (cf. NK II: er; Gering 1903: es I. A. 1; LP: es 9). Here it would refer to the first half-line At uppiverandi sólu and perhaps could be rendered in conjunction with the whole sentence At … litit as: ‘While the sun is up, then (er) I have seen not a single one more ugly’.
önga ‘a single’
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2. engi (pron.): no, none
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: hefi ek önga fyrr 471
notes
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: This anaphoric use of the rel. particle er at the beginning of the second half-line of a long-line is typical of ljóðaháttr (cf. NK II: er; Gering 1903: es I. A. 1; LP: es 9). Here it would refer to the first half-line At uppiverandi sólu and perhaps could be rendered in conjunction with the whole sentence At … litit as: ‘While the sun is up, then (er) I have seen not a single one more ugly’.
eina ‘one’
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1. einn (num. cardinal; °f. ein, n. eitt; pl. einir; superl. debil. -asti(Anna238(2001) 155³²)): one; alone
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: hefi ek önga fyrr 471
notes
[4] er ek hefik önga eina: This anaphoric use of the rel. particle er at the beginning of the second half-line of a long-line is typical of ljóðaháttr (cf. NK II: er; Gering 1903: es I. A. 1; LP: es 9). Here it would refer to the first half-line At uppiverandi sólu and perhaps could be rendered in conjunction with the whole sentence At … litit as: ‘While the sun is up, then (er) I have seen not a single one more ugly’.
leiðiligri ‘more ugly’
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leiðiligr (adj.)
litit ‘seen not’
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líta (verb): look, see; appear
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
The stanza is introduced by the words: Ketill kvað vísu ‘Ketill spoke a stanza’.
This stanza has a close parallel in GrL 1: the hero addresses the giantess or troll-woman, describes her rocky environment and says she is the ugliest thing he has ever seen. In 343a and 340ˣ this stanza consists of two long-lines and a full-line without a caesura; in 471 the stanza is entirely in ljóðaháttr, since ll. 1-2 are followed by the additional line ok glottir við guma ‘and grins at the man’, i.e. ‘at me’. Previous eds have printed the stanza with this line. In other mss the stanza is entirely in fornyrðislag and the wording of ll. 3-8 is very different from that in 343a, 471 and 340ˣ (for a text, see Edd. Min. 80 n.). In these lines the giantess is not merely described as ‘ugly’; she is said to have ‘black eyes’. On the ugliness of giants see Schulz (2004, 147-53).
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