Note to Auðunn Lv 2I
[4] hvé of vélti belti þat ‘how did the “belt” trick me’: By placing ‘belt’ in inverted commas, the intention is to suggest that it is used metaphorically (as with lindi ‘belt, girdle’ in l. 2) to refer to the paling fence. Belti ‘belt’ forms a striking clause with vélti ‘tricked’, since véla normally takes an animate subject, but cf. Ǫlv Lv 1/3-4, where the same fence has control over poets’ conversation. The object is n. acc. sg. þat, apparently implying skald n., hence ‘me, the poet’. It is to be noted that there is an inexact aðalhending between vélti : belti, but this may be indicative of the stanza’s early date.