Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 20

Beatrice La Farge

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Keth Lv 20^VIII (Ket 36)

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.

Ketill hœngr Lausavísur

19 20 21

notes

[1] Dragvendill: According to Ket ch. 3, Ketill hœngr acquired the sword Dragvendill, along with three arrows, after he had killed the Saami leader Gusi (FSGJ 2, 164). This name appears as the name of a sword in a lausavísa attributed to Egill Skallagrímsson (Egill Lv 35/2^V (Eg 64)). According to Eg (ch. 61, ÍF 2, 195), Egill’s friend Arinbjǫrn gave him the sword, and in the M (Möðruvallabók) version of the saga its provenance is named: Þórólfr Skallagrímsson gave it to Arinbjǫrn, and was himself given it by his father Skallagrímr, who in turn received it from his own brother Þórólfr. Þórólfr got it from Grímr loðinkinni, Ketill hœngr’s son, and it is stated that Ketill had used it in single combats. It is further stated that Dragvendill was the sharpest of all swords. Ironically, the first half-stanza of the lausavísa attributed to Egill resembles this stanza in that there as well Dragvendill is said not to ‘bite’ as it should, because Atli the Short had dulled its blades by magic (ch. 65, ÍF 2, 209-10). This sword name is recorded in two variants, dragvendill, as here and in some mss of Eg, and dragvandill, as in the M-text of Eg and Þul Sverða 1/4^III. On the etymology of the name, see Note to Þul Sverða 1/4^III.

við ‘for’

(not checked:)
2. við (prep.): with, against

krás ‘the delicacies’

(not checked:)
krás (noun f.; °; -ir): morsel

kennings

krás arnar;
‘the delicacies of the eagle; ’
= CORPSES
the delicacies of the eagle; → CORPSES

arnar ‘of the eagle’

(not checked:)
1. ǫrn (noun m.; °arnar, dat. erni; ernir, acc. ǫrnu): eagle

kennings

krás arnar;
‘the delicacies of the eagle; ’
= CORPSES
the delicacies of the eagle; → CORPSES

mætir ‘meet’

(not checked:)
mœta (verb): meet

þú ‘you’

(not checked:)
þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you

[3] þú: om. 471

mein ‘harmful’

(not checked:)
mein (noun n.; °-s; -): harm, injury < meingaldr (noun m.)

notes

[3] meingöldrum ‘harmful spells’: The cpd meingaldr ‘harmful spell’ is only attested here.

göldrum ‘spells’

(not checked:)
galdr (noun m.): chant, incantation < meingaldr (noun m.)

notes

[3] meingöldrum ‘harmful spells’: The cpd meingaldr ‘harmful spell’ is only attested here.

máttir ‘are’

(not checked:)
mega (verb): may, might

[4] máttir þú: máttu 471

þú ‘you’

(not checked:)
þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you

[4] máttir þú: máttu 471

eigi ‘unable’

(not checked:)
3. eigi (adv.): not

bíta ‘to bite’

(not checked:)
bíta (verb; °bítr; beit, bitu; bitinn): bite

Mik ‘to me’

(not checked:)
ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me

notes

[5] mik varði þess eigi ‘it did not occur to me’: The verb vara ‘expect’ is used impersonally with the acc. of the person who expects and the gen. of what is expected (LP: 2. vara). Several eds emend the line to produce regular alliteration with l. 6. Thus Skj B and Skald emend l. 5 to hins mik eigi varði and Mik hins ei varði respectively (with little change to the meaning), whilst Guðni Jónsson (FSGJ) and the eds of Edd. Min. emend to Hæng þess eigi varði ‘It did not occur to Hœngr [= me]’.

þess ‘It’

(not checked:)
1. sá (pron.; °gen. þess, dat. þeim, acc. þann; f. sú, gen. þeirrar, acc. þá; n. þat, dat. því; pl. m. þeir, f. þǽ---): that (one), those

notes

eigi ‘did not’

(not checked:)
3. eigi (adv.): not

notes

varði ‘occur’

(not checked:)
2. vara (verb): warn

notes

at ‘that’

(not checked:)
4. at (conj.): that

hrøkkva ‘give way’

(not checked:)
1. hrøkkva (verb): coil

mundi ‘would’

(not checked:)
munu (verb): will, must

eggjar ‘edges’

(not checked:)
1. egg (noun f.; °-jar, dat. -ju/-): edge, blade

eitr ‘poison’

(not checked:)
eitr (noun n.; °; dat. -um): poison < eitrherða (verb): °temper with poison

[7] eitr‑: eitri 471

notes

[7] eitrherðar ‘poison-hardened’: This cpd adj. occurs only here and in Bret, likewise applied to a sword (cf. Fritzner, ONP: eitrherða ‘temper with poison’); the blades of swords are said to be ‘mixed with poison’ (eitrblandinn) in HjǪ 20/5; cf. Brot 19/5-8.

herðar ‘hardened’

(not checked:)
2. herða (verb): strengthen < eitrherða (verb): °temper with poison

notes

þótt ‘although’

(not checked:)
þótt (conj.): although

[8] þótt: þó 471

notes

[8] þótt Óðinn deyfði ‘although Óðinn blunted [them]’: For Óðinn’s power to blunt swords by means of sorcery, see Hávm 148/4-6.

Óðinn ‘Óðinn’

(not checked:)
Óðinn (noun m.): Óðinn

notes

[8] þótt Óðinn deyfði ‘although Óðinn blunted [them]’: For Óðinn’s power to blunt swords by means of sorcery, see Hávm 148/4-6.

deyfði ‘blunted [them]’

(not checked:)
1. deyfa (verb; °-fð-): °blunt (a weapon, the cutting edge); make insensible/numb; relieve (pain); become deaf, (of hearing) deteriorate; be soothed, be calmed

notes

[8] þótt Óðinn deyfði ‘although Óðinn blunted [them]’: For Óðinn’s power to blunt swords by means of sorcery, see Hávm 148/4-6.

Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses

The single combat now commences. Ketill’s first two strikes at Framarr’s shoulders do not wound him, and Ketill addresses his sword Dragvendill in this and the following stanza. In the saga this stanza is introduced by the words: Ketill kvað vísu ‘Ketill spoke a stanza’.

[1-2]: Since l. 2 contains no word that alliterates with any word in l. 1, some eds have introduced or suggested emendations to provide l. 2 with a word beginning with <d> to alliterate with dregz and Dragvendill. They also differ in their interpretation of the meaning of the lines: Skj B emends to Dregsk nú Dragvendill, | deila krás arnar ‘Fly now, Dragvendill, to strike apart the delicacies of the eagle’; Edd. Min. 84 n. suggests Dregsk þú nú, Dragvendill, | við drífu járna ‘You draw back, Dragvendill, from the storm of swords’, but does not print this in the main text; Skald has Dregsk nú, Dragvendill, | við dagkrás arnar ‘You are drawn now, Dragvendill, for the breakfast [lit. ‘day-delicacy’] of the eagle’ (cf. NN §2397). Kock is surely correct in his interpretation of dregz as a reference to the drawing of the sword Dragvendill from its scabbard, but there is no need to emend the line, which makes perfect sense, despite the lack of an alliterating word in l. 2.

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Keth Lv 20VIII (Ket 36)

Dregz ‘drawn’

þú ‘You are’

nú ‘now’

Dragvendill ‘Dragvendill <sword>’

notes

við ‘for’

krás ‘the delicacies’

kennings

arnar ‘of the eagle’

kennings

mætir ‘meet’

þú ‘you’

mein ‘harmful’

notes

göldrum ‘spells’

notes

máttir ‘are’

þú ‘you’

eigi ‘unable’

bíta ‘to bite’

Mik ‘to me’

notes

þess ‘It’

notes

eigi ‘did not’

notes

varði ‘occur’

notes

at ‘that’

hrøkkva ‘give way’

mundi ‘would’

eggjar ‘edges’

eitr ‘poison’

notes

herðar ‘hardened’

notes

þótt ‘although’

notes

Óðinn ‘Óðinn’

notes

deyfði ‘blunted [them]’

notes

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Keth Lv 20^VIII (Ket 36)