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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Keth Lv 19VIII (Ket 33)/6 — höfuð ‘head’

Óðin blóta         gørða ek aldrigi;
        hefik þó lengi lifat.
Framar veit ek         falla munu
        fyrr en þetta it háva höfuð.

Ek gørða aldrigi blóta Óðin; þó hefik lifat lengi. Ek veit Framar munu falla fyrr en þetta it háva höfuð.

I have never sacrificed to Óðinn; yet I have lived a long time. I know Framarr will fall sooner than this high head.

notes

[6] fyrr en þetta it háva höfuð ‘sooner than this high head’: A reference to Ketill’s great height; cf. Ket 28/1. The noun hǫfuð refers to the person as a whole; cf. LP: hǫfuð 2. Since the mss all have the emphatic combination of two demonstrative pronouns (þetta, it), these are retained (so Skald, Edd. Min.), whereas Skj B omits it.

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