Vart þú eigi með Víkari
austr í Væni árdag snemma,
þá er sóttu vér Sísar á velli;
þat var þrekvirki þokks megnara.
Þú vart eigi með Víkari austr í Væni árdag snemma, þá er vér sóttu Sísar á velli; þat var þokks megnara þrekvirki.
You were not with Víkarr east on Vänern early in the day, when we attacked Sísarr on the [battle-]field; that was a still more powerful feat of strength.
[4] árdag snemma ‘early in the day’: Árdag, possibly acc. sg. of time, is an unparalleled form, beside árdagar m. pl. ‘days of yore’, often found in eddic poetry, as in Vsp 61/5-6 (cf. LP: árdagar). The meaning of árdag here in combination with snemma ‘early’ is unclear. Finnur Jónsson (LP: árdagar) suggests the composer of Gautr 21 may have misunderstood the meaning of the cpd to mean the morning or early part of the day, and that is the sense given here. Edd. Min. emends to árdags (gen. sg.) but this does not make the meaning clearer.