Cite as: George S. Tate (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Líknarbraut 14’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 245.
Veittu menn, sem máttu,
marga lund á grundu,
grimmúðgastir gumnar,
guði sælum harmkvæli. |
Lét fyr ljóna sveitum
limu sína guð pína,
framar en flestir gumnar,
fjöldyggr, megi hyggja. |
Grimmúðgastir gumnar — menn sem máttu — veittu sælum guði harmkvæli marga lund á grundu. Fjöldyggr guð lét sína limu pína fyr sveitum ljóna, framar en flestir gumnar megi hyggja.
The most grim-minded men — men who were able — gave blessed God sorrowful torments in many ways on earth. Very faithful God let his limbs be tortured for the hosts of men more than most men might imagine.
Mss: B(11v), 399a-bˣ
Readings: [2] marga lund: ‘mar[...]a [...]unnd’ B, ‘maṛg̣a ḷund’ 399a‑bˣ
Editions: Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XIII], C. 1. Líknarbraut 14: AII, 153, BII, 164, Skald II, 87, NN §§1353H, 1956; Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1844, 39, Rydberg 1907, 14, 49, Tate 1974, 59.
Notes: [8] fjöldyggr ‘very faithful’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson, following 399a-bˣ, expands the abbreviation above <g> as pl. -ir, construing the adj. to modify gumnar ‘men’. But the er/ir abbreviation can also be expanded simply as <r> (Hreinn Benediktsson 1965, 92).