Styrbjǫrn réð til styrjar
styrfimr meginsnimma;
hildingr gekk at hjaldri
hildarfúss und skildi.
Eggþinga skar eggjum
eggjandi fjǫr seggja;
vargfœðir rauð vargi
varghollr granar mǫrgum.
Styrfimr Styrbjǫrn réð meginsnimma til styrjar; hildingr gekk hildarfúss und skildi at hjaldri. Eggjandi eggþinga skar fjǫr seggja eggjum; varghollr vargfœðir rauð granar mǫrgum vargi.
Battle-swift Styrbjǫrn engaged in battle extremely early; the warrior went war-eager beneath the shield to war. The egger-on of edge-assemblies [BATTLES > WARRIOR] severed men’s lives with edges; the wolf-devoted wolf-feeder [WARRIOR] reddened the whiskers of many a wolf.
[7] vargi: víða papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
[7] vargi (m. dat. sg.) ‘wolf’: In keeping with most earlier eds, víða (adv.) ‘far and wide’ has been emended to vargi ‘wolf’ to retain the internal rhyme and to provide a noun for the adjectival qualifier mǫrgum (m. dat. sg. or pl.) ‘many’ (l. 8). Vǫrgum (m. dat. pl.) ‘wolves’ is also a possible reading (so SnE 1848, 245).