Svart Skauf 22VIII/4 — keifaða ‘was struggling along’
‘Rietti hann trýni, rak upp sjónir,
og kendi þegar, hvar eg keifaða.
Mier kom heldr í hug, hvað hann vildi;
vatt eg af mier vænni byrði.
‘Hann rietti trýni, rak upp sjónir, og kendi þegar, hvar eg keifaða. Kom heldr í hug mier, hvað hann vildi; eg vatt vænni byrði af mier.
‘He stretched out his snout, turned up his eyes and discovered at once where I was struggling along. It rather came into my mind what he wanted; I threw the handsome burden off me.
readings
[4] keifaða: skrefaði Rask87ˣ
notes
[4] keifaða ‘was struggling along’: CPB II, 610 glosses this as ‘walk wearily, as reeling under a burden’, i.e. depicting the fox as carrying off his prey like a wolf or bear. Ms. Rask87ˣ’s skrefaði ‘strode with long steps’ appears to have been influenced by the same verb in st. 23/4 below. The ‑i ending in Rask87ˣ is a later form, and not very common in the C14th (see ANG §534 and Björn K. Þórólfsson 1925, 61). Keifa is not otherwise recorded in Old Norse, but cf. ModIcel. keifa ‘drag oneself forwards’ and ModNorw. keivete ‘awkward, clumsy’.