Ljós mun lýðum ljóðbók vesa;
þós í frœði flest at ráða,
þats fyrir jǫfurr ǫldum sagði
brezkri þjóðu; nú skal brag kveða.
Ljóðbók mun vesa ljós lýðum; þós flest at ráða í frœði, þats jǫfurr sagði brezkri þjóðu fyrir ǫldum; nú skal kveða brag.
The song-book will be clear to men; yet most [of it] is to be interpreted by means of wisdom that ages ago the leader imparted to the British people; now the poem shall be recited.
[2] ljóðbók: ljóðborg Hb
[2] ljóðbók ‘song-book’: Emended in this edn from ms. ljóðborg ‘city of song’ (refreshed). Such a cpd would normally be construed as a kenning meaning ‘mouth, chest’ and similar, but the sense required by context is ‘poem’, as posited in Bret 1848-9 and Skj B. Gunnlaugr refers elsewhere to the parts of this poem as bók (I 95/2, II 63/3) or bœkr, the latter collocated with adj. bjartar ‘bright’ (I 96/3-4), corresponding to ljós ‘clear’ here. Cf. ljóðabók ‘book of lays’ (CVC, ONP: ljóðabók). Possibly Latin titles such as Herbert of Bosham’s well-known Liber melorum ‘Book of songs/harmonies’, written shortly after 1186 (cf. Smalley 1973, 79), suggested this expression.