Hlær, þá er hildar máva*
* hugr minn, koma þínum
— stafns verðk gjarn til Gefnar —
gælendr fyr mér hæli.
Úlfr veit um — Syn sjálfa
sædags lofak fagra —
— mér verðr grund at grandi
grafsilfrs — etit hafði.
* Hugr minn hlær, þá er gælendr máva* hildar koma hæli þínum fyr mér; verðk gjarn til Gefnar stafns. Lofak fagra Syn sædags sjálfa; grund grafsilfrs verðr mér at grandi; úlfr veit um [þat, er] hafði etit.
My mind laughs when appeasers of the seagulls of battle [RAVENS/EAGLES > WARRIORS] bring your woman before me; I desire the Gefn <goddess> of the headdress [WOMAN]. I praise the beautiful Syn <goddess> of the sea-day [GOLD > WOMAN] herself; the ground of engraved silver [WOMAN] causes me suffering; the wolf knows [what] he had eaten.
[3] Gefnar stafns ‘the Gefn <goddess> of the headdress [WOMAN]’: The noun stafn in its common meaning ‘prow’ would be an unprecedented determinant in a woman-kenning. It is here considered to be used in a less common sense as a heiti for ‘headdress’ (cf. SnE 1848-87, II, 494; Fritzner IV: stafn; Heggstad et al. 2008: stafn 3.). Gunnlaugur Þórðarson (ÞJ 1857, 63) suggests that stafn can have a similar sense to bíkar ‘beaker’ and staup ‘cup’, but no evidence is adduced in support of this idea.