Refr Frag 1III/3 — viðr ‘performs’
Gekk í golli stokkna
gjǫfrífr Hôars drífu
askr — viðr œrinn þroska
ǫs-Freyr — sæing meyjar.
Gjǫfrífr askr drífu Hôars gekk í golli stokkna sæing meyjar; ǫs-Freyr viðr œrinn þroska.
The gift-rash ash-tree of the snow-storm of Hárr <= Óðinn> [BATTLE > WARRIOR] went into the gold-adorned bed of the woman; the tumult-Freyr <god> [WARRIOR] performs plenty of manly deeds.
readings
[3] viðr: so Tˣ, W, 2368ˣ, við R, U, C, vinnr A
notes
[3] viðr ‘performs’: Unlike Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), Faulkes (SnE 1998) and the present edn, Kock (NN §1128) does not interpret this word as a verb (3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of vinna ‘perform’), but rather as the prep. við ‘with’, which he combines with œrinn þroska ‘plenty of manly deeds’. He takes the subject of the intercalary clause which he reads él-Freyr (mss A, C) ‘storm-Freyr’, as an apposition to askr drífu Hars ‘ash-tree of the snow-storm of Hárr’ and combines við with œrinn þroska meaning ‘with enormous manly power’. Faulkes (SnE 1998, I, 193) objects that ‘við would not normally be used with this meaning’ (however, see Fritzner: við 10 and LP: við 7). In any case, the A variant vinnr, the more common 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. form of vinna and a variant form of viðr (so mss Tˣ, W, 2368ˣ), suggests that the latter is the verb rather than the prep. við.