Álmdrósar skylr ísa
ár flest meginbára sára;
kœnn lætr hræs á hrǫnnum
hjálmsvell jǫfurr gella fella.
Styrjǫkla kná stiklir
stinnmens legi venja benja;
lætr stillir frør fylla
fólksund hjarar lunda unda.
Flest ár skylr meginbára sára ísa álmdrósar; kœnn jǫfurr lætr hjálmsvell gella á hrǫnnum fella hræs. Stiklir stinnmens kná venja styrjǫkla legi benja; stillir lætr frør unda fylla fólksund lunda hjarar.
Most years a mighty wave of wounds [BLOOD] rinses icicles of the elm-bow-woman [VALKYRIE > SWORDS]; the wise prince makes the helmet’s ice-sheet [SWORD] scream in waves of the fellers of carrion [SWORDS > BLOOD]. The dispenser of the stiff necklace [GENEROUS MAN] accustoms battle-glaciers [SWORDS] to the ocean of wounds [BLOOD]; the leader makes the frost of wounds [SWORD] replenish the battle-sea [BLOOD] of the trees of the sword [WARRIORS].
[3] hræs: so W, ‘hre[…]’ R, hress Tˣ
[3] hræs ‘of carrion’: So W. In R something has been erased after the first three letters (‘hre[…]’) and the word has been altered (R*), but the alteration is difficult to make out (Skj A reads hraustr). Hress ‘healthy, strong, eager’ (Tˣ) makes no sense in the context. In both Skj B and SnE 1931, Finnur Jónsson emended what he considered to be R*’s correction of R’s reading to hvatt ‘quickly’, but that cannot now be corroborated.