Ok geirrotu gǫtvar
gagls við strengjar hagli
hungreyðǫndum Hanga
hléðut járni séðar.
Ok gǫtvar geirrotu, séðar járni, hléðut hungreyðǫndum gagls Hanga við hagli strengjar.
And garments of spear-downpour [BATTLE > MAIL-SHIRTS], seamed with iron, did not protect hunger-assuagers of the gosling of Hangi <= Óðinn> [RAVEN > WARRIORS] from the hailstone of the bowstring [ARROW].
[4] hléðut: ‘hlóþvt’ R, ‘hlodut’ Tˣ, ‘hlǫðvt’ W, ‘hlæðvr’ A
[4] hléðut ‘did not protect’: 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. of the verb hlýja ‘protect’, plus the negative suffix -t. The mss disagree on the stem vowel, and Noreen (ANG §513.2) describes the form with [e:] as old and rare. Emendation to hléðut, adopted by most previous eds, is supported by A’s reading ‘hlæðvr’, and Eskál Vell 34/4I has the same rhyming words, where R reads ‘hleþvt’.