Heinþynntan lét hvína
hrynjeld at þat brynju
foldar vǫrðr, sás fyrðum,
fjǫrnharðan, sik varði.
Vǫrðr foldar, sás varði sik fyrðum, lét heinþynntan, fjǫrnharðan hrynjeld brynju hvína at þat.
The guardian of the land [RULER], who defended himself against men, made the whetstone-sharpened, amazingly hard resounding fire of the mail-shirt [SWORD] whistle at that.
[4] fjǫrn‑: ‘fior[…]’ U, fjǫrr‑ FskAˣ
[4] fjǫrnharðan ‘amazingly hard’: A hap. leg. The element fjǫrn- is related to f. pl. firnar (ModIcel. n. pl. firn) ‘something remote, exceptional’, often used as intensifying gen. pl., e.g. HSt Rst 9/2 firna mǫrg ‘very many’; see LP: firnar, fjǫrnharðr. (a) The interpretation of Kock (NN §1062), taking it in parallel with heinþynntan ‘whetstone-sharpened’ (lit. ‘-thinned’), is adopted here, as syntactically more conventional than the following solution. (b) Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: fjǫrnharðr) takes fjǫrnharðan as a m. acc. sg. adj. used as an adv., ‘amazingly strongly’, in the rel. clause. (c) Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 274) notes the further possibility that it could function adjectivally with sik ‘himself’.