Sagði hitt, es hugði,
hauklyndr, vesa myndu;
þar kvað þengill eirar
þrotna vôn frá hônum.
Heldr kvað hvern várn skyldu
hilmir frægr an vægja
(menn brutu upp) of annan
(ǫll vôpn) þveran falla.
Hauklyndr sagði hitt, es hugði vesa myndu; þengill kvað þrotna vôn eirar frá hônum þar. Frægr hilmir kvað hvern várn skyldu falla þveran of annan heldr an vægja; menn brutu upp ǫll vôpn.
The hawk-minded one said what he thought might happen; the lord declared there was scant hope of mercy from him there. The famous ruler said each of us must fall crosswise on top of one another rather than yield; men readied all weapons.
[4] þrotna: þraut Hr
[4] þrotna vôn (f. acc. sg.) ‘scant hope’: Lit. ‘ended, diminished hope’. Taken as the p. p. (f. acc. sg.) of þrjóta ‘end, lack, diminish’. It could also be the inf. of the weak verb þrotna ‘come to an end’ (see NN §3262A): kvað vn eirar frá hnum þrotna ‘said that the expectation of mercy from him was coming to an end’ (ll. 3, 4), but the p. p. is attested with ván ‘hope’ in other contexts (see the examples given in Fritzner: þrjóta 1).