Anon Lil 77VII/6 — sviðrar ‘burns’
Vindi fult hefir veslan anda
várn ofbeldið laungum feldan;
blár og ljótr í öfundar eitri
jafnan hefir eg næsta kafnað.
Reiðigall með sárum sullum
sviðrar mier um blásin iðrin;
hrygðin slítr af hjartarótum
harðan styrk í sútamyrkri.
Vindi fult ofbeldið hefir laungum feldan veslan anda várn; blár og ljótr hefir eg jafnan næsta kafnað í eitri öfundar. Reiðigall sviðrar mier með sárum sullum um blásin iðrin; hrygðin slítr harðan styrk af hjartarótum í sútamyrkri.
Puffed-up [lit. full of wind] pride has long felled our [my] wretched soul; black and ugly, I have constantly nearly choked on the venom of envy. The gall of wrath burns me with painful ulcers in my swollen bowels; sorrow tears the hard strength from the roots of the heart in the darkness of despair.
notes
[6] sviðrar ‘burns’: The word is not attested elsewhere in ON. LP (1860); LP; and Heggstad, Hødnebø and Simensen 1997 translate ‘burn’ (there is no entry in Fritzner). Most eds and translators of the poem follow (Eiríkur Magnússon 1870, 79 and 120; Wisén 1889, 282; Skj B; Åkerblom 1916, 27; Meissner 1922, 15; Guðbrandur Jónsson 1951, 177; Boucher 1985, 2-21; Ødegård 1980, 79; Taillé 1989, 155). But Jón Helgason notes that Sigfús Blöndal defines it as fyge, hvirvles, navnlig om sne; knurre, brumle, mumle (‘fly or swirl, in association with snow; growl, rumble, mumble’, Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4: sviðra 1-2), and this meaning is reflected in Páll Hallsson’s (1773, 39) early Lat. translation furit ‘rages’, although his translation into Dan. reads er beesk ‘is bitter’ (Holm papp 23 folˣ, 21). Baumgartner translates wühlt ‘digs’ (1884, 51), Paasche translates slaar ‘strikes’ (1915, 64) and Lange translates ließ schwellen ‘causes to swell’ (1958b, 69).