Firð stóð í bygð breiðri
borg Pátera sorgum,
mest áðr lýðr frá losta
lítt gættr í bý fættiz.
Páteraborg, firð sorgum, stóð í breiðri bygð, áðr lýðr, lítt gættr frá losta, fættiz mest í bý.
The city of Patara, removed from sorrows, stood in a broad settlement, until the people, not at all guarded against lust, diminished greatly in the town.
[1] Firð: Frið W
[1] firð ‘removed’: An emendation of the ms.’s ‘frið’, presuming a scribal metathesis, first suggested by Sveinbjörn Egilsson in LP (1860): sorg and accepted by all subsequent eds. Frið (from friðr ‘peace’) does not fit the context, while firð ‘removed’, p. p. of firra ‘deprive, save, keep away from’ (cf. LP: firra 4), goes well with sorgum ‘from sorrows’ (l. 2), and qualifies Páteraborg ‘the city of Patara’ (l. 2).