Keth Lv 15VIII (Ket 23)/3 — flagðit ‘ogress’
Langleit ertu, fóstra, ok lætr róa nefit;
ei hefi ek flagðit felligra litit;
eða hvert hefir þú förina görva?
Ertu langleit, fóstra, ok lætr nefit róa; ek hefi ei litit flagðit felligra; eða hvert hefir þú görva förina?
You are long-faced, foster-mother, and you let your nose row; I have not seen a more monstrous ogress; and where are you travelling to?
notes
[3-4]: Lit. ‘I have not seen the more monstrous ogress’. Several mss (e.g. 173ˣ, 342ˣ) have the reading ei hefi ek ferligri | flagðkonu litit ‘I have not seen a more monstrous ogress’. The form felligra (cf. 471’s ferligra) is an example of the common assimilation of <r> to the following <l> in the consonant combination <rl> (cf. ANG §272.1). Some previous eds (Skj B, Skald, Edd. Min. and FSGJ) omit the enclitic article ‑it in flagðit (‘the ogress’) in l. 3 in order to reduce the number of syllables. Guðni Jónsson (FSGJ) and the eds of Edd. Min. also emend the wording to produce a full-line without a caesura in l. 3 and thus a half-stanza in ljóðaháttr: Leitat ek ferligra flagð ‘I have not seen a more monstrous ogress’.