Helgar meyjar höfðu hreinliga
sál af synðum þvegit
manna þeira, er á mörgum degi
pína sjálfa sik.
Helgar meyjar höfðu hreinliga þvegit af synðum sál manna þeira, er á mörgum degi pína sjálfa sik.
Holy maidens had washed clean [lit. cleanly] of sin the souls of those men who on many a day mortify themselves.
[6] pína ‘[they] mortify, torture’: So also Bugge, Fidjestøl and Njörður Njarðvík. Skj B, Falk, Björn M. Ólsen and Skald emend the 3rd pers. pl. pres. indic. pína to 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. píndu, presumably on grounds of sense, that men’s self-mortification must have preceded their absolution by the holy maidens. A similar use of the pres. tense is at 61/2 ala ‘they nourish’.