Bresta mun fyrr, bróðir, in blikhvíta lind,
ok kaldr geirr koma við annan,
ok margr gumi í gras hníga,
en ek mun Humlung hálfan láta,
eða Tyrfing í tvau deila.
Fyrr mun in blikhvíta lind bresta, bróðir, ok kaldr geirr koma við annan, ok margr gumi hníga í gras, en ek mun láta hálfan Humlung, eða deila Tyrfing í tvau.
The white-gleaming shield will break, brother, and the cold spear clash with another, and many a man sink into the grass, before I will allow the Humlungr (‘descendant of Humli’) half, or divide Tyrfingr in two.
[1] fyrr: for 2845, ‘áðr’ with strikethrough in another hand 203ˣ, áðr R715ˣ
[1] fyrr ‘before’: Skj, Skald, FSN, Heiðr 1873 and Edd. Min. omit, though all mss have a word here. Fyrr can, however, be accommodated in a line of Type A* (málaháttr). The emendation (2845 has ‘for’) was suggested by Suhm and Stefán Björnsson in their 1785 edn of the R text (based on ms. 345; Heiðr 1785, 190) and, probably independently, by Jón Helgason (Heiðr 1924, 88 n. 4).