Eil Þdr 4III/4 — ǫll ‘All’
Vôru vǫtn ok mýrar
— verðr hitt, at þau skerða —
(svell vas áðr of alla)
ǫll torráðin (halla).
Ǫll vǫtn ok mýrar vôru torráðin; hitt verðr, at þau skerða; svell vas áðr of alla halla.
All the lakes and marshes were difficult [to traverse]; it happens that they intersect [the path]; ice was already on all the cliffs.
readings
notes
[4] ǫll ... halla ‘all ... the cliffs’: (a) To avoid a tripartite l. 4, the present edn follows Kock’s (NN §1216) suggestion that only the last word halla ‘cliffs’ ought to be combined syntactically with l. 3; the line’s first segment ǫll torráðin ‘all difficult’ belongs with the clause in l. 1. (b) In Falk’s (1889c, 253) interpretation and in both of Finnur Jónsson’s eds (TGT 1927; Skj B), l. 4 is split into three syntactic units belonging to different clauses. The first word, which they interpret as ál ‘sprout’ (acc. sg. of áll, which is only attested in Þul Sáðs 1/3) (‘ol’ W, ól B, A(3v)), is combined with skerða ‘damage’ (l. 2); the second word torráðin ‘harmful, difficult’ is combined with vǫtn ok mýrar vôru (torráðin) ‘lakes and marshes were (harmful)’ (l. 1); and hvála ‘hills’ (‘hola’ W, B, A(5v), ‘hóla’ A(3v)), the last word of l. 4, is combined with l. 3: svell vas áðr of alla (hvála) ‘ice was earlier over all hills’. This gives the following interpretation (Skj B): vǫtn ok mýrar vôru torráðin; verðr hitt, at þau skerða ál, svell vas áðr of alla hvála, which can be translated as ‘lakes and marshes were harmful; it happens that they damage the seedling, ice was earlier over all hills’. According to that interpretation, the half-stanza describes a harsh winter and the ensuing bad consequences for the crops.