Eil Þdr 8III/1 — leit ‘saw’
Harðvaxnar leit herðar
hallands of sik falla
(gatat maðr) njótr (in neytri)
njarð- (rôð fyr sér) -gjarðar.
Þverrir lét, nema þyrri
Þorns barna sér, Mǫrnar
snerriblóð, til svíra
salþaks megin vaxa.
Njótr njarðgjarðar leit harðvaxnar herðar hallands falla of sik; maðr gatat in neytri rôð fyr sér. Þverrir barna Þorns lét megin vaxa sér til svíra salþaks, nema snerriblóð Mǫrnar þyrri.
The user of the strength-belt [= Þórr] saw the hard-grown shoulders of the sloping-land [MOUNTAIN > ROCKS] fall around him; the man could not find a useful solution for himself. The diminisher of the children of Þorn <giant> [GIANTS > = Þórr] said that his strength would grow to the neck of the roof of the earth [SKY] unless the rushing blood of Mǫrn <female mythical being> [RIVER] receded.
readings
notes
[1] leit ‘saw’: The mss give the two variants sér ‘saw’ and lét ‘let’. This edn follows Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) who emends ‘let’ (Tˣ, W) to leit ‘he saw’. Although lét ‘let’ could be a possible choice (NN §449 and Reichardt 1948, 352), two arguments speak against this. First of all, lét would mean either that Þórr accepted the stones falling around him or that he caused them to fall. Neither interpretation is convincing because the next clause states that he did not know what to do in this situation. Secondly, the next helmingr uses the exact same verb (lét). Sér ‘he sees’ (R) (so Sveinbjörn Egilsson 1851, 8; Finnur Jónsson 1900b, 384) is also problematic because all other verbs in the stanza are in the pret. tense. The emendation leit results in a verb for ‘see, realise’ in the pret. form.