Well, I butted in earlier because I thought this was a bit of a
tangled one and not really fair to unleash on beginners, but
actually you all did impressively well in riddling out the
meanings. In case anyone doesn't have access to Gordon's
translation, here it is: "I have laid a loop on the heath beyond
Jordan--the wise lady will remember this during the serpent's sorrow
[lit. path-thong's]; but I think it seems far to all stay-at-home's
to go thither; blood fell warm on the wide plain."

>
> 'Ek hefi lagða lykkju leiðar þvengs of heiði
> I have placed a coil of lace of (the) way over (the) heath.

'leiðar þvengs' "lace/thong of the way" [snake] would seem to be
parenthetical, not connected with this sentence but rather
with 'sút'. The 'sút þvengs leiðar' "sorrow of the thong of the
road" = "serpent's sorrow". The skalds often spliced their
sentences like this, and the confusion caused by the fact that he's
already talking about tying knots may well be deliberate!

The kenning might seem bizarre but is actually a conventional way of
referring to seasons in skaldic verse, according to how amenable the
weather is to snakes. Snorri says that winter can be called 'bani
orma' "death/bane/killer of snakes", and summer 'líkn
ormanna' "comfort/relief/mercy of the snakes". He cites Ormr
Steinþórsson's kenning 'orms tregi' "snake's grief" for winter.

Did the poets care about snakes? I think it was just a good excuse
for gratuitous snake-kennings. For example, Sörlastikki, in Sörla
þáttr, has 'dalreyðar miskunnar' "dale-rorqual's [=land-fish =
serpent's] mercies", that is to say: the season which is kind to the
snake, i.e. summer. Similarly Egill Skallagrímsson called
summer 'dalmiskunn fiska'. Here the elements of the kenning are
swapped, but the intended meaning is 'miskunn dalfiska' "mercy of
[i.e. for] dale-fishes", summer.

> Snotr minnisk þess svanni
> A wise woman (will) be reminded of that

Or simply "remember that" (his tying of the knots).

> sút), fyr Jórðán útan;
> (with) sorrow [dat sg?], beyond Jordan;

See above: sorrow nothing to do with the wise woman, just part of
the kenning for winter. Yes, I think dat.sg.

> en hykk at þó þykki
> but I think that nevertheless (it) seems

The (dative) subject of 'þykki' is 'heimdrögum öllum' "all stay-at-
homes" in the final line: I think it seems to them; I think [that]
they think [that] it [is] a long way to walk/go there [to where I
tied the knots, on the heath beyond the River Jordan].

> þangat langt at ganga
> a long way to walk from there,

'þangat' "to there, thither" (þann veg at), rather than "from there,
thence", which would be 'þaðan'. Slip of the keyboard, no doubt.

> (blóð fell varmt á víðan
> blood fell warm on (the) wide
> völl) heimdrögum öllum
> plain, for all those who yearn for [are drawn to] home

I'm not even sure there needs to be an excuse to mention blood in
Viking poetry. Violence was done, it almost goes without saying.
Like the woman, it might refer to a particular event, or it might be
just part of the convention. It seems like a parenthetical
interjection, as Gordon punctuates it, in the middle of the sentence
about it seeming a long way to stay-at-homes.

How was that? Hope I haven't confused things even more.

LN