minine I do not know. Most natural it would be to suppose Germ. -pa, -da (Ide. -to) suffix which forms abstracts of masc. and neut. gender. Cf. O.N. mor-d, O.H.G. mor-d 'murder'; Goth. ai-ps, O.N. ei-dr 'oath' etc. Else, the feminine gender may be justified by assuming Germ. -(i)pônin -(i) đô (Ide. -tâ) suffix, entering into the composition of fem. noun-abstracts. Cf. Goth. Hauhi-pa (to the adj. hauhs, gen. hauhi-s), Ags. hieh-po, O.H.G. hôhi-da, O.N. hæð 1). However, Ketil is no weakling, even according to Old Norse conceptions, but a right manful, if heady, hotspur. Indeed, he produces the impression of fierceness, his fylgja is imagined as a "göltr mikill grimligr ok illiligr" 2). Since, on the other hand, we must rule out as highly unlikely, because of the origin of the saga, the supposition that Ketill had come by his epithet through inheritance, as was the case with such not very flattering nicknames as skjálgr, bjúgr, skakkr, we seem to stand before a crux. It may be that the name itself can solve it. There is a group of words of the same consonantism, possibly from the same root, but exhibiting a semasiological differentation of an easily explicable kind 3). Ross: Kreks m. 'a headstrong, obstinate person' (Voss); Krekse m. & n. 'do.' (Søndfj. and Søndhordl.); kreksen, kriksen, kriklig, adj. 'tvær, trodsig, vrangvillig; obstinate, wrong-headed; Aasen: krekla v. n. 'at yppe trætte, to pick a quarrel'. Etc. The quality of quarrelsomeness, headstrongness, implied in words of this group would fit Ketill excellently well. And the probability of his epithet having that meaning is greatly strengthened when we consider that it is equally applicable to the prototypes of Ketill, which I have otherwhere) shown 1) Cf. Kluge, Nominale Stammbildungslehre. 2) ed. chap. xxii. Very characteristically, the MSS. of the enlarged version have, instead, "(göltr) hann var ekki svá mikill” etc. Cf. Detter, p. xi. 3) Cf. Falk & Torp, sub 'krangel'. *) 1. c. to be Jökull in the Vatsdælasaga, and þórir in the porsteinssaga Víkingssonar. To be sure, we have no direct evidence of O.N. kregð having had this value, beside that of 'weakling'. At any rate, later Icelandic copyists understood the word in the latter sense; for in MSS. A and C of the enlarged class Hrosskell urges his king to defiance against Ketil "er vér vitum mest vesaldarkregd" 1). Assuming, though, that the original author of the Hrólfssaga knew and intended the earlier meaning of krego 'hotspur etc.', we can perfectly well understand how this epithet, in its turn, suggested the circumstances of the succession. A Ketill Hotspur was not to be thought of as a worthy successor to Gautrek — still less, for that matter, a Ketill Weakling having as brother such a paragon of long-headedness as Hrólf. Hence the obvious recourse, from above hint in the Gautrekssaga, of transferring the succession to the younger brother, straight counter to the law of the land "at inn ellri konungsson taki ríki eptir föður sínn". especially when If we do not accept this explanation we are confronted with the difficulty of having to account for the discrepancy above indicated between Ketils character and epithet. Finally, the testimony of style seems to point to the Gautrekssaga being the earlier production; for notwithstanding the legendary nature of the subject, apart, of course, from manifestly later elaborations - it is of a distinctly more realistic quality. In fact, the whole mode of attack, if I may say so, is more nearly akin to the style of the best times 2), than that of the Hrólfssaga where a first step has been taken on the road that was to lead to the thoroughly romantic treatment of even Northern material. In the Gautrekssaga, the note of 'curteisie' is as yet alto 1) chap. xxv. 2) Cf. Boer, 1. c. p. 331. gether absent. In the Hrólfssaga, it is sounded, not only in the scene laid in Dublin, but in the whole hero ideal of a knightly king invincible and unfailingly resourceful, sans peur et sans reproche. It is true that in the Hrólfssaga the fusion of old time Víking and Ladies' Knight is accomplished so well that the newer element is likely to pass unnoticed. The reason is clear. In another place 1) I have tried to show that the Hrólfssaga was composed, probably by a cleric of pingvalla cloister, in order to magnify the family of the Vatsdal. The Gautrekssaga however, stripped of adventitious matter, shows no such conscious effort. Ranischs conclusion 2) in the matter was: "Der Verfasser der Gautrekssaga kannte aus mündlicher oder schriftlicher Überlieferung den Gautaþáttr und die Refssaga; er fügte sie mit Benützung der Hrólfssaga zu einer Gautrekssaga zusammen, die er der Hrólfssaga als eine Art breiterer Einleitung vorsetzte". Without unnecessary hairsplitting this statement amounts to a virtual acknowledgment of the existence (written or unwritten) of the Gautrekssaga as we have it, independently of the Hrólfssaga. That the Hrólfssaga, on the other hand, both from internal and external evidence, is not based on any substantial tradition, but is one man's work, was established by Detter. Shall we then admit "dass die kürzere, ältere Fassung der Gautrekssaga "verfasst" ") wurde als Einleitung zu der kürzeren, älteren Hrólfssaga --?" Or not, rather, as I contend, that after the continuation of the Gautrekssaga in the Hrólfssaga, later copyists endeavoured to bring about a closer connection by inserting certain minor changes? 1) L. c. p. 217. 2) L. c. Lii. 3) Quotation marks are mine. The names Hrosskell and Hrossþjófr. The Hrosskell-Hrossþjóf episode of the Hrólfssaga has all the appearance of being invented 1) ad hoc, without any basis of popular tradition. Possibly, we may have to start from a name Hrosskell (suggested by the names Hrossbjörn and Ketill in the Vatsdælasaga?) 2). It is worthy of note that the form of the name is not the regular one, Hrokkel, as the etymology of it is evidently Hróðkell > Hropkell > Hrotkell > Hrokkell 3) = 'glory-helm'. Cf. the analogous formations O.N. Hróðgeirr, Ags. Hróðgár; Hródulf, O.N. Hrólf etc. etc. Hrosskell = 'horse-helmet', on the other hand, scarcely was a fitting man's name. I conjecture that, in casting about for a suitable name for the leader of the uniformly unpopular and abhorred berserks, the author hit upon the similar Hrosspjóƒ) 'horse-thief' which, in its turn, may have suggested the whole story 5). As to already existing connotations, they were, of course, abundant. We remember, in this connection, the 'úkveðinsord' merarson. In the Helgakviða Hjörvardssonar, the skessa Hrímgerd seems to appear in the shape of a mare, desiring intercourse with Atli and Helgi. Cf. also the theriomorphic myths alluded to in Hyndluljóð 40, Gylfaginning ch. 42. We need scarcely think of the Longobards (on account of their horse-leather leggins)) being 1) Cf. Detter, 1. c. xli. 2) author, 1. c. ') Noreen 122, 3; 130, 2e. *) On names in -þjóf see Bugge, Ark. f. n. Fil. ii (1890) p. 225. Saxos Rostiophus Phinnicus, identified with the Hrossþjóf of the Hyndluljóð, Bugge, Studier over de nordiske Gude- og Heltesagns Oprindelse, p. 139, does not concern us here. ") hardly, as Detter 1. c. suggests, to explain the name. ') Kauffmann, Zfdphil. 40/391. |