Bragi Rdr 4III/1 — of ‘over’
Flaut of set við sveita
sóknar alfs á golfi
hræva dǫgg, þars hǫggnar
hendr sem fœtr of kenndu.
Fell í blóði blandinn
brunn ǫlskakki — runna
þats á Leifa landa
laufi fátt — at haufði.
Dǫgg hræva flaut of set við sveita alfs sóknar á golfi, þars of kenndu hǫggnar hendr sem fœtr. Ǫlskakki fell at haufði í brunn blandinn blóði; þats fátt á laufi runna landa Leifa.
Dew of corpses [BLOOD] flowed over the bench together with the blood of the elf of attack [WARRIOR = Jǫrmunrekkr] on the floor, where people recognised hewn arms and legs. The ale-dispenser [RULER = Jǫrmunrekkr] fell head-first into a well mixed with blood; that is painted on the leaf of the trees of the lands of Leifi <sea-king> [SEA > SHIPS > SHIELD].
notes
[1, 2] of set … á golfi ‘over the bench … on the floor’: The words set and golf denote two distinct parts of the early Scandinavian hall. Set was the raised area along the walls, where benches were set up for people to sit on and cleared at night for sleeping, whereas the golf was the central part of the hall floor, around the hearth. Bragi seems to imply that Hamðir and Sǫrli attacked Jǫrmunrekkr on the set (where he may have been asleep or drunk), and threw his limbs onto the golf where everyone could see them (cf. Hamð 24/7-10 and Saxo 2005, I, 8, 10, 14, pp. 552-5). Skj B and Skald emend all mss’ á golfi to í golfi, but this is not necessary to get good sense.