Ok því settu mik svarðmerðlingar
suðr hjá salti, synir Loðbróku.
Þá var ek blótinn til bana mönnum
í Sámseyju sunnanverðri.
Ok því settu mik svarðmerðlingar, synir Loðbróku, suðr hjá salti. Þá var ek blótinn til bana mönnum í sunnanverðri Sámseyju.
And so head-dress wearers, sons of Loðbróka, set me up in the south by the sea. At that time I was worshipped to the death of men in the southern part of Samsø.
[1] mik: om. 1824b
[1] settu … mik ‘set … me up’: Mik is not present in the ms. The 3rd pers. pl. settu ‘(they) set, placed’, naturally requires an object, and it seems clear from the second half-stanza that the trémaðr is referring to himself here (svarðmerðlingar in l. 2, which is in all probability a pl. form, is probably best taken as the subject of settu, and synir Loðbróku as an appositive parallel to the subject, cf. McTurk 1990, 323). Heusler and Ranisch (Edd. Min. lxxxii), whose emendation to settumk is followed (in adapted form) here, suggest Ár mik settu ‘Long ago they placed me’ as the original wording of l. 1, pointing out that ár ‘long ago’ would fit well with the þá ‘at that time’ of l. 5. They also refer to the suggestion of Edzardi (1855-80, III, 342) that mik ‘me’ may have stood in place of ok ‘and’ in l. 1 in its original form.