Hfr ErfÓl 8I/1 — lagðisk ‘laid aside’
Upp sǫgðu lǫg — lagðisk
líf skjótt firum — hlífa
gnóg til gumna feigðar
gǫlkn við randar bǫlku.
Gǫlkn hlífa sǫgðu upp lǫg, gnóg til feigðar gumna, við bǫlku randar; líf lagðisk skjótt firum.
Monsters of shields [AXES] proclaimed the laws, enough for the doom of warriors, at the walls of the rim [SHIELDS]; life was quickly laid aside for men.
readings
[1] lagðisk: ‘lo᷎gþiss’ 54, ‘lęgiss’ Bb, ‘lo᷎gdar’ Flat
notes
[1] lagðisk ‘was laid aside’: This emendation seems to have been first proposed by Sveinbjörn Egilsson (SHI 2). ‘Lo᷎gþiss’ (so 54) and ‘lo᷎gdar’ (so Flat) may be inflected forms of lǫgðir ‘stabber’ here, while Bb has ‘lęgiss’, gen. sg. of lœgir m. ‘sea’. However, neither gives sense with líf skjótt firum ‘life quickly for men’. The rare use of leggjask in the sense ‘to cease, lay aside’ may have confused scribes and led to corruption.