Stýrir Ulfs til Elfar
óskmǫgr skipum fǫgrum,
sás hrækǫstu hæsta
hleðr í Gunnar veðri.
Skolla vé, þars vǫllu
vápnlauðri drífr rauðu,
(regn drepr Gauts í gǫgnum)
gullmerk*ð (Hôolfs serki).
Óskmǫgr Ulfs, sás hleðr hæsta hrækǫstu í veðri Gunnar, stýrir fǫgrum skipum til Elfar. Gullmerk*ð vé skolla, þars drífr vǫllu rauðu vápnlauðri; regn Gauts drepr í gǫgnum serki Hôolfs.
Úlfr’s beloved son [= Sveinn], who stacks the highest corpse-piles in the storm of Gunnr <valkyrie> [BATTLE], steers fair ships to the Götaälv. Gold-embroidered banners flutter where red weapon-foam [BLOOD] covers the fields; the rain of Gautr <= Óðinn> [ARROWS] hammers through Hálfr’s <legendary king’s> shirts [BYRNIES].
[8] gullmerk*ð Hôolfs: ‘gullmarkuð holfs’ FskBˣ, 51ˣ
[8] gullmerk*ð (n. nom. pl.) ‘gold-embroidered’: Merk- (rather than mark-) is determined by the internal rhyme, and the syllable -uð in gullmarkuð ‘gold-embroidered’ (so both mss) is secondary. It must have been added to achieve a l. with six syllables. The metre requires a disyllabic word in positions 1-2 with the hiatus word Holfs ‘Hálfr’s’, which had not yet been syncopated (cf. the later ms. form ‘holfs’; so both mss), in positions 3-4.