[3-4] hnigstöfum hljóms hjörva ‘bowing-staves of swords’ din [BATTLE > WARRIORS]’: The identical battle-kenning (hjörva hljómr) occurs previously in Tindr Hákdr 10/5-6I (C10th). LP finds the hnig- element of hnigstafr ‘bowing-stave’ problematic, having no particular transitive meaning as LP (1860) had posited (praelium inclinare faciens ‘causing the battle to bend’); LP suggests something like ‘those who themselves move or cause movement’ in battle. But hnig- is from intrans. hníga ‘to bow down, sink, fall (gently)’, the p.p. of which (hniginn) often means ‘bent with age’ or ‘fallen in battle’ (cf. Lat. occubitus). Here, however, the allusion is likely to be to men bowing before God or the Cross.