Keth Lv 14^VIII (Ket 22)

Ungr var ek heima,         fór ek einn saman,
        opt í útveri,
        marga myrkviðu.
Hvatki ek fann á minni götu,         hræddumz ek aldri
        flagða forynjur.

Ungr var ek heima, ek fór opt einn saman í útveri, marga myrkviðu. Ek hræddumz aldri forynjur flagða, hvatki ek fann á götu minni.

When I was young at home, I often roamed alone in the outlying fishing grounds, through many dark forests. I never feared the warnings of ogresses, whatever I found on my path.

Mss: 343a(56v), 471(54r) (Ket)

Readings: [3] útveri: veri 471    [5] Hvatki: hvar 471    [7] forynjur: ‘friȯsun’ 471

Editions: Skj AII, 283, Skj BII, 304-5, Skald II, 161; FSN 2, 129, FSGJ 2, 171, Anderson 1990, 53, 99, 346, 372, 439-40; Edd. Min. 81.

Context: Ketill’s answer (Ket 22-3) is introduced by the words: Ketill kvað ‘Ketill said’.

Notes: [1-2]: A close parallel is Hávm 47/1-2. — [4] myrkviðu ‘dark forests’: Most mss (e.g. 1006ˣ, 173ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 340ˣ) have the reading myrkviða, but 343a has myrkviðu (‘myrkvidꜹ’), acc. pl. of the cpd myrkviðr ‘dark forest’ m. This cpd is well attested in eddic poetry; cf. LP: myrkviðr. Previous eds have understood 471’s reading as myrkriðu, acc. sg. of the cpd myrkriða f. ‘female rider in the dark’, which is attested as a term for a witch in Hárb 20/2 and Þul Trǫllkvenna 4/8^III.  However, the present ed., as well as Anderson 1990, reads myrkviðu.  Those same eds who read myrkriðu also emend l. 5, so that ll. 4-5 read as follows: marga myrkriðu | fannk á minni götu ‘many a female rider in the dark <troll-woman> I found on my path’. — [5] hvatki ek fann á minni götu ‘whatever I found on my path’: The mss 343a (‘kvatki’) and 340ˣ have the reading hvatki ‘whatever’, 471 reads hvar ‘everywhere’. Several other mss omit the line entirely. In the version of the stanza presented in them the words marga myrkviða must be regarded as a full-line without a caesura and part of the preceding construction: fór (ek) einn saman | út í útveri, | marga myrkviða ‘I roamed alone out in the outlying fishing grounds, (through) many dark forests’. Some u-stem nouns are also declined like a-stems (ANG §395), hence myrkviða could be regarded as the acc. pl. of the cpd myrkviðr m., although Noreen (ANG) does not mention viðr as one of the u-stem nouns which are declined like a-stems. — [7] forynjur flagða ‘the warnings of ogresses’: With the exception of 471 the mss have the reading forynjur ‘[prophetic] warnings’, a word which is otherwise only attested in prose texts (cf. Fritzner, Fritzner IV, ONP: forynja). It is unclear why LP postulates the meaning ‘monster, troll’ for this word here in Ket. The reading in 471 is variously given as ‘friȯsun’ (Anderson 1990, 99; Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir transcription for this edn) and ‘fnosun’ (Skj A) and said by the eds of Edd. Min. to be ‘unclear’, although they give it as fnǫsun ‘snorting’. With the exception of Anderson all eds emend to fnǫsun, the phrase fnǫsun flagða ‘the snorting of ogresses’ referring to the threatening, angry noises they make (cf. Heiðr 23/2, where the noun refers to a raging fire).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj A = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15a. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. A: Tekst efter håndskrifterne. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1967. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. ANG = Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I: Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Urnordischen. 4th edn. Halle: Niemeyer. 1st edn. 1884. 5th unrev. edn. 1970. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
7. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
8. Fritzner IV = Hødnebø, Finn. 1972. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog af Dr. Johan Fritzner: Rettelser og tillegg. Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.
9. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
10. 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.
11. Anderson, Sarah M. 1990. ‘The Textual Transmission of Two Fornaldarsögur: Ketils saga høings and Gríms saga loðinkinna’. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University…
12. Internal references
13. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ketils saga hœngs’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 548. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=71> (accessed 7 May 2024)
14. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 70 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 23)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 436.
15. Not published: do not cite ()
16. Not published: do not cite ()
17. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 22 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 14)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 572.