Keth Lv 16^VIII (Ket 26)

Örum trúi ek mínum         en þú afrendi þinni;
fleinn mun þér mæta,         nema þú fyrir hrøkkvir.

Ek trúi örum mínum, en þú afrendi þinni; fleinn mun mæta þér, nema þú hrøkkvir fyrir.

I trust in my arrows, and you in your strength; a shaft will meet you, unless you give way before it.

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

Readings: [2] afrendi: so 471, afli 343a;    þinni (‘þini’): so 471, þínu 343a    [3] þér: þér nú 471    [4] hrøkkvir (‘hrockvir’): so 471, ‘hraukir’ 343a

Editions: Skj AII, 284, Skj BII, 305, Skald II, 162; FSN 2, 130, FSGJ 2, 172, Anderson 1990, 54, 100; Edd. Min. 82.

Context: Ketill replies in prose to Forað’s threat by saying that such hostility is to be expected of her. She tries to capture him in her grasp, but Ketill utters this defiant stanza, asserting that he trusts in the efficacy of his weapons. The stanza is introduced by the words: Ketill kvað þá vísu ‘Then Ketill spoke a stanza’.

Notes: [All]: Ketill depicts the conflict between himself and Forað as a contest between his weapons and her physical strength. In a similar stanza at the close of the hostile exchange between Ketill’s son Grímr loðinkinna ‘Hairy-cheek’ and the giantesses Feima and Kleima (GrL 5), this contrast is expressed pregnantly as one between broddr ‘weapon-point’ and krumma ‘claw’; in both cases the hero’s weapons are the arrows known as Gusisnautar ‘Gusir’s gifts’ (see Note to l. 1). — [1] örum mínum ‘my arrows’: After he had killed Gusi(r), ruler of the Saami, Ketill acquired his three famous magical arrows, Flaug, Hremsa and Fífa (see further Context to Ket 12 and Note to Ket 27/1, 3). — [2] afrendi ‘strength’: Ms. 471 has the reading afrendi (< *afrhendi ‘strength of hand’) instead of the more general afli ‘strength’, the reading of 343a. The latter makes sense, but the former is the lectio difficilior and is preferred by Skj B and Skald and this edn (but not Edd. Min.). On the word afrendi see Kommentar II, 334-5 to Hym 28/2.

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. Kommentar = See, Klaus von et al. 1997-2012. Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda. 7 vols. Heidelberg: Winter.
6. FSGJ = Guðni Jónsson, ed. 1954. Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. 4 vols. [Reykjavík]: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
7. 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.
8. Anderson, Sarah M. 1990. ‘The Textual Transmission of Two Fornaldarsögur: Ketils saga høings and Gríms saga loðinkinna’. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University…
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Gríms saga loðinkinna 5 (Grímr loðinkinni, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 294.
12. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 12 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 7)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 562.
13. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 27 (Forað, Lausavísur 6)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 579.