Keth Lv 3VIII (Ket 5)
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.
Hængr ‘Hœngr (‘Salmon’)’
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hœingr (noun m.; °-s): [salmon]
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
heiti ‘am named’
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2. heita (verb): be called, promise
kominn ‘come’
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koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come
ór ‘from’
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3. ór (prep.): out of
Hrafnistu ‘Hrafnista’
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Hrafnista (noun f.)
hefnir ‘avenger’
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hefnir (noun m.): avenger
kennings
hefnir Hallbjarnar;‘avenger of Hallbjǫrn; ’
= Ketill
avenger of Hallbjǫrn; → Ketill
notes
[3] hefnir Hallbjarnar ‘avenger of Hallbjǫrn [= Ketill]’: It is unclear why Ketill refers to himself as the ‘avenger of Hallbjǫrn’, since Hallbjǫrn, Ketill’s father, is alive and well in Hrafnista, according to Ket. In any case this self-designation identifies Ketill as the son of Hallbjǫrn, since the duty of taking revenge for a father devolves upon a son. Several other mss give the reading arfi Hallbjarnar ‘heir of Hallbjǫrn’.
Hallbjarnar ‘of Hallbjǫrn’
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Hallbjǫrn (noun m.): Hallbjǫrn
kennings
hefnir Hallbjarnar;‘avenger of Hallbjǫrn; ’
= Ketill
avenger of Hallbjǫrn; → Ketill
notes
[3] hefnir Hallbjarnar ‘avenger of Hallbjǫrn [= Ketill]’: It is unclear why Ketill refers to himself as the ‘avenger of Hallbjǫrn’, since Hallbjǫrn, Ketill’s father, is alive and well in Hrafnista, according to Ket. In any case this self-designation identifies Ketill as the son of Hallbjǫrn, since the duty of taking revenge for a father devolves upon a son. Several other mss give the reading arfi Hallbjarnar ‘heir of Hallbjǫrn’.
hví ‘why’
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hví (adv.): why
[4] hví skríðr þú svá inn armi: hygg ek eigi friðar biðja 471
notes
[4] hví skríðr þú svá ‘why do you glide thus’: The verb skríða is used three times in the exchange between Ketill and Gusi (Ket 3a, 4 and 5): with reference to Gusi’s movement down from the sledge (Ket 3a), to the movement of a wolf, referring to Ketill (Ket 4), who is on skis (cf. Ket 6), and to Gusi’s mode of transport (Ket 5). In all three stanzas the verb appears to be demeaning, most overtly in Ket 4, where Gusi compares Ketill to a wolf. In Ket 5 it refers to the Saami use of sledges drawn by reindeer (cf. Ket 3a) and may denigrate such a mode of transport.
skríðr ‘glide’
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skríða (verb): creep, glide
[4] hví skríðr þú svá inn armi: hygg ek eigi friðar biðja 471
notes
[4] hví skríðr þú svá ‘why do you glide thus’: The verb skríða is used three times in the exchange between Ketill and Gusi (Ket 3a, 4 and 5): with reference to Gusi’s movement down from the sledge (Ket 3a), to the movement of a wolf, referring to Ketill (Ket 4), who is on skis (cf. Ket 6), and to Gusi’s mode of transport (Ket 5). In all three stanzas the verb appears to be demeaning, most overtly in Ket 4, where Gusi compares Ketill to a wolf. In Ket 5 it refers to the Saami use of sledges drawn by reindeer (cf. Ket 3a) and may denigrate such a mode of transport.
þú ‘you’
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þú (pron.; °gen. þín, dat. þér, acc. þik): you
[4] hví skríðr þú svá inn armi: hygg ek eigi friðar biðja 471
notes
[4] hví skríðr þú svá ‘why do you glide thus’: The verb skríða is used three times in the exchange between Ketill and Gusi (Ket 3a, 4 and 5): with reference to Gusi’s movement down from the sledge (Ket 3a), to the movement of a wolf, referring to Ketill (Ket 4), who is on skis (cf. Ket 6), and to Gusi’s mode of transport (Ket 5). In all three stanzas the verb appears to be demeaning, most overtly in Ket 4, where Gusi compares Ketill to a wolf. In Ket 5 it refers to the Saami use of sledges drawn by reindeer (cf. Ket 3a) and may denigrate such a mode of transport.
svá ‘thus’
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svá (adv.): so, thus
[4] hví skríðr þú svá inn armi: hygg ek eigi friðar biðja 471
notes
[4] hví skríðr þú svá ‘why do you glide thus’: The verb skríða is used three times in the exchange between Ketill and Gusi (Ket 3a, 4 and 5): with reference to Gusi’s movement down from the sledge (Ket 3a), to the movement of a wolf, referring to Ketill (Ket 4), who is on skis (cf. Ket 6), and to Gusi’s mode of transport (Ket 5). In all three stanzas the verb appears to be demeaning, most overtly in Ket 4, where Gusi compares Ketill to a wolf. In Ket 5 it refers to the Saami use of sledges drawn by reindeer (cf. Ket 3a) and may denigrate such a mode of transport.
inn ‘’
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2. inn (art.): the
[4] hví skríðr þú svá inn armi: hygg ek eigi friðar biðja 471
armi ‘wretch’
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2. armr (adj.; °compar. -ari, superl. -astr): wretched
[4] hví skríðr þú svá inn armi: hygg ek eigi friðar biðja 471
Frið ‘words of’
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friðr (noun m.): peace < friðmál (noun n.): peace-talk
málum ‘peace’
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1. mál (noun n.; °-s; -): speech, matter < friðmál (noun n.): peace-talk
[5] ‑málum: ‑mælum 471
mæla ‘speak’
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1. mæla (verb): speak, say
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
við ‘to’
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2. við (prep.): with, against
Finn ‘Saami’
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Finnr (noun m.): Saami (person)
notes
[6] ragan Finn ‘a cowardly Saami’: The adj. ragr (or argr) denotes every kind of unmanliness and is thus an extremely insulting mode of address (cf. Noreen 1922a, 40, 60-1; Meulengracht Sørensen 1980; 1983).
ragan ‘a cowardly’
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ragr (adj.; °superl. -astr): [perverted, minded]
notes
[6] ragan Finn ‘a cowardly Saami’: The adj. ragr (or argr) denotes every kind of unmanliness and is thus an extremely insulting mode of address (cf. Noreen 1922a, 40, 60-1; Meulengracht Sørensen 1980; 1983).
heldr ‘rather’
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halda (verb): hold, keep
mun ‘will’
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munu (verb): will, must
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
boga ‘the bow’
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bogi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): bow
benda ‘bend’
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1. benda (verb; °-nd-): bend
er ‘which’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
mér ‘me’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
Brúni ‘Brúni’
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Brúni (noun m.)
gaf ‘gave’
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gefa (verb): give
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
This stanza is introduced by the words: Ketill kvað vísu ‘Ketill spoke a stanza’. It is Ketill’s answer to Gusi’s question about who he is (Gusi Lv 2 (Ket 4)).
In papp32ˣ parts of this stanza are combined with parts of Ket 7, Hæng kalla mik (see Anderson 1990, 291). — [1-4]: Alliteration on h is used in two consecutive long-lines. — [8] þann er ‘which’: Both mss read þann, but have been normalized to þann er to reflect the syntax of the period 1250-1300, rather than that of the C14th and later, when the loss of the rel. particle er in the combination demonstrative + rel. particle became common (cf. NS §261).
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