Have no husbands. For eigu, read eigut, as on p. 121.
Game of chess. The text has hneftafl, i.e. a game having certain features in common with chess which was played in Iceland till the introduction of the latter, probably in the thirteenth century. Game-pieces have been discovered in Iceland which were probably used for this game. Some are plain and hemispherical in shape, others are shaped with a man's head or a dog's head. For a full and interesting description of hneftafl see H. J. R. Murray, A History of Chess, Oxford, 1913, Appendix I, 'Chess in Iceland,' pp. 443-446.
Ægis meyjar. Ægir or Hlér, the husband of Rann, is a personification of the sea; but the kennings 'Ægir's daughters,' 'Ægir's steed,' etc. for 'billows' are common in poetry. See Helgakviða Hundingsbana ii, str. 29, and Bragar-ræður, ch. 55 (included in Brodeur's translation of the Prose Edda as Skáldskaparmál, ch. i).
Reefs. For brimserkum, read brimskerjum.
Ocean-path. For brim-reiðar, read brim-leiðar. The passage is possibly corrupt.
That is the hunn. This stanza is difficult to interpret as we have no clear information as to the character of the game. It would seem that like the game of the Welsh tawlbwrdd, it was played between sides composed, the one of sixteen 'fair' (white) men, the other of a King (called hnefa or hunn) and eight 'dark' (black) men. Cf. note to Game of Chess above. See also Murray, A History of Chess, Oxford 1913, Appendix I, 'Chess in Iceland,' pp. 443-446.
Four walking, etc. This riddle is found in a form almost identical with our text in Jakobsen's Dialect and Place Names of Shetland (Lerwick, 1897), p. 53. The 'sow' is also found in the Exeter Book, while 'the waves,' 'the anchor' and 'hailstones' have certain affinities with the AS. riddles.
King Itrek's Game. The reference here seems to be to a game something like chess. The text (R) given by Heusler in his edition of the Eddica Minora, p. 118, reads: "That is Itrek and Andath when they sit at their game."
Dead men, etc. In this strophe there seems to be an elaborate play on words. The phrase 'dead men' (dauðar menn) seems to be a disguise for val which means 'the slain' as well as 'hawk.' So also 'channel of blood' seems to be a disguise for æði which means 'vein' as well as 'eider-duck.'