ÞjóðA Sex 16II/8 — fótr ‘foot’
Flest vas hirð, sús hraustum
hrafns fœði vel tœði,
dauð, áðr dǫglingr næði,
døkks, á land at støkkva.
Skóp furðu þá skerði
skipun ǫll (vas þá) snjǫllum
hrings (til Heljar genginn
hverr fótr) konungs Jóta.
Flest hirð, sús tœði hraustum fœði døkks hrafns vel, vas dauð, áðr dǫglingr næði at støkkva á land. Ǫll skipun konungs Jóta skóp snjǫllum skerði hrings furðu þá; hverr fótr vas þá genginn til Heljar.
Most of the troop, who served the bold feeder of the dark raven [WARRIOR = Sveinn] well, was dead by the time the prince managed to leap ashore. The whole company of the king of the Jótar [DANISH KING = Sveinn] performed for the valiant damager of the ring [GENEROUS MAN] a marvel then; every foot had then marched off to death’s realm.
notes
[8] hverr fótr ‘every foot’: Emendation of m. acc. sg. hvern to m. nom. sg. hverr seems unavoidable, since it must modify fótr, which is m. nom. sg. and is the best candidate as subject to vas ... genginn (cf. Note above). ‘Foot’ promotes a concrete image of troops marching to Hel, the realm of death and the female divinity presiding over it, simultaneously with the figurative sense in which fótr refers by pars pro toto to the warriors who die, since phrases referring to journeys or dispatch to Hel are stock idioms for death.