Framarr Lv 3^VIII (Ket 38)

Skelfr nú skegg á karli;         skeika vápn gömlum;
frýr hann hjör hvössum;         hræðiz faðir meyjar.
Brýnduz benteinar,         svát bíta máttu
hölða hugprúða,         ef þér hugr dygði.

Nú skelfr skegg á karli; vápn skeika gömlum; hann frýr hvössum hjör; {faðir meyjar} hræðiz. {Benteinar} brýnduz, svát máttu bíta hugprúða hölða, ef hugr dygði þér.

Now the beard is trembling on the fellow; weapons go askew for the old man; he blames his sharp sword; {the father of the maiden} [= Ketill] is afraid. {The wound-twigs} [SWORDS] were whetted so that they were able to bite courage-proud warriors, if courage had stood you in good stead.

Mss: 343a(57v), 471(56r-v) (Ket)

Readings: [1] nú: om. 471    [6] máttu: so 471, mátti 343a    [7] hölða hugprúða: hölðum hugprúðum 471

Editions: Skj AII, 286-7, Skj BII, 307-8, Skald II, 163, NN §3289; FSN 2, 138, FSGJ 2, 179, Anderson 1990, 58, 107, 442; Edd. Min. 84.

Context: Framarr mocks Ketill’s futile attempts to wound him. In the saga this stanza is introduced by the words: Framarr kvað vísu ‘Framarr spoke a stanza’.

Notes: [All]: This stanza contains echoes of Ket 15, in which Ketill comments on the course of the battle against the first unwanted suitor (Áli Uppdalakappi) for the hand of his daughter: Ketill says there (l. 4) that the beard of his opponent is ‘coloured (with blood)’ and that his opponent is afraid: biðill meyjar hræðiz ‘the girl’s suitor is afraid’ (l. 8). — [3] hjör ‘sword’: Hjör is dat. sg. without ending of hjörr ‘sword’, beside dat. sg. hjörvi, the latter a new formation from the nom. (cf. ANG §§82.7 Anm. 4, 365 Anm. 2). — [5-8]: Several mss including 342ˣ omit ll. 5-6 and read: frýr hann hjör hvassan; | hræðiz nú faðir meyjar | at høggva hugprúðan, | því honum hugr ei dugir ‘he blames his sharp sword (acc.); the father of the maiden is now afraid to strike the courage-proud [man], because his courage does not support him’. — [5] benteinar ‘the wound-twigs [SWORDS]’: The sword-kenning benteinn is attested only in poetry here but occurs as the name of a man in Ív Sig 25/7^II. — [6] máttu ‘they were able’: Ms. 343a has the reading mátti, which is 3rd pers. sg. pret. indic. of the verb mega ‘be able’. Since the subject of the sentence is the pl. benteinar ‘wound-twigs [SWORDS]’, eds either adopt the reading máttu (3rd pers. pl. pret. indic.) found in 471 and in 340ˣ (so Skj B and this edn) or emend mátti to the pret. subj. mætti ‘should have been able’ (Edd. Min.; Skald). Kock (NN §3289) adduces the pret. subj. dygði in the following long-line in support of an emendation to a subj. However, according to Nygaard (NS §§293-5) verb forms in the indic. are usual in dependent clauses introduced by svá at/svát, unless the main clause contains a negation, a question, an exhortation or a word meaning ‘worthy’ or ‘suitable’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. 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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
8. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
9. 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.
10. Anderson, Sarah M. 1990. ‘The Textual Transmission of Two Fornaldarsögur: Ketils saga høings and Gríms saga loðinkinna’. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University…
11. Internal references
12. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Ívarr Ingimundarson, Sigurðarbálkr 25’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 516.
13. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 15 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 565.