Hfr ErfÓl 21I/1 — þegnar ‘retainers’
Mundut þess, es þegnar
þróttharðan gram sóttu,
— ferk með lýða líði
landherðar — skǫp verða,
at mundjǫkuls myndi
margdýrr koma stýrir
— geta þykkjat mér gotnar
glíkligs — ór her slíkum.
Skǫp mundut verða þess, es þegnar sóttu þróttharðan gram — ferk með líði lýða landherðar —, at margdýrr stýrir mundjǫkuls myndi koma ór slíkum her; gotnar þykkjat mér geta glíkligs.
Fate would not have come to this, when retainers attacked the mightily tough lord — I deal with ale of the folk of the land-shoulder [ROCK > GIANTS > POETRY] —, that the magnificent controller of hand-icicle [SILVER > MAN] would escape [lit. come out of] such a force; men do not seem to me to talk of a likely thing.
readings
[1] þegnar: ‘þ[…]’ 325VIII 2 g
notes
[1] þegnar ‘retainers’: As it stands the line lacks skothending. Jón Þorkelsson’s emendation Þrœnda ‘of Þrœndir, people of Trøndelag’ (1884, 63), so þróttharðan gram Þrœnda ‘mightily tough lord of Þrœndir [= Óláfr]’, remedies this (Þrœnda : mundut), as does Þrœndir (Jón Helgason 1931-2, 62). The latter is superior, as it is both grammatically equivalent to ms. þegnar and supported by the prose tradition naming the Trøndelag jarl Eiríkr and his men among Óláfr’s attackers. But neither has ms. support and compelling reasons to emend are lacking (cf. Ohlmarks 1958, 460-1).