Anon (FoGT) 17III/3 — vinga ‘by the windswept’
Píndr er stuldr, þar er standa
stafnreiðar hímleiðir
víða, vingameiði,
viðir hjá torgi miðju.
Morð eru hjólum hörðum
hegnd, þau er illa gegndu,
þar er riett vísar ræsir
rómsæll skipun dóma.
Stuldr er píndr vingameiði, þar er hímleiðir viðir stafnreiðar standa víða hjá miðju torgi. Morð, þau er gegndu illa, eru hegnd hörðum hjólum, þar er rómsæll ræsir vísar riett skipun dóma.
Theft is punished by the windswept tree [gallows] where universally loathed trees of the prow-chariot [SHIP > SEAFARERS] stand in many places near the middle of the market-place. Murders, which were bad, are chastised by hard wheels, where the praised ruler carries out correctly the order of the courts.
notes
[3] vingameiði ‘by the windswept tree [gallows]’: Taken here as an instr. dat. Ms. W has ‘vinga meiðar’, regarded by all eds (except SnE 1848-87) as a cpd noun for the gallows, following the reference in Hávm 138/2 (NK 40) where the god Óðinn claims that he hung for nine nights vindgameiði á. The first element of the cpd is a contraction of vindga- (from vindugr ‘windy’); cf. LP: vingameiðr. A difficulty here is that one would normally expect the prep. á ‘on’ with the noun, but the rather artificial context of this stanza’s creation may have led to a number of abnormal syntactic constructions.