Reyndr ertu, fóstri, at ganga hervígis til
ok berjaz við Framar til fjár.
Á léttum aldri gaf honum Óðinn sigr;
mjök kveð ek hann vígum vanan.
Ertu reyndr, fóstri, at ganga til hervígis ok berjaz við Framar til fjár. Óðinn gaf honum sigr á léttum aldri; ek kveð hann mjök vanan vígum.
You are experienced, foster-father, in going to army-slaughter and in fighting with Framarr for wealth. Óðinn gave him victory in his youth; I say that he is very accustomed to killings.
[4] Á: enn á 471
[4-5]: As it stands aldri and Óðinn are the alliterating words in this long-line. Since the adj. léttum is the first nominal form in the first half-line and therefore should alliterate (cf. von See 1967, 19), some eds regard the line as corrupt: Jón Þorkelsson suggested the emendation of léttum to ungom ‘young’; see Edd. Min. 83 n.; Kock changes the word order to Á aldri léttom (FF §§12A, 43). Óðinn’s function as a god who grants victory is mentioned in many texts (see Kommentar III, 700-1 to Hyndl 3/1). — [4] á léttum aldri ‘in his youth’: Lit. ‘at a light age’, i.e. as a young man, when most things come easily to one. The adj. léttr is not used of age elsewhere in poetry, but it occurs in this sense in prose texts (cf. Fritzner: léttr 2; ONP: aldr 6).