[2] herðendr sverða ‘the strengtheners of swords [WARRIORS]’: The base-word (herðendr ‘strengtheners, hardeners’) is in the nom. (or acc.). Kock suggested that it could function either as a form of address (NN §1124B) or as the subject of hefna ‘avenge’. Following the latter interpretation, he regarded at (l. 1) as the conj. ‘that’ rather than as the inf. marker ‘to’ (NN §2018): at herðendr sverða hefna stofns Hlakkar ‘that the strengtheners of swords avenge the tree-stump of Hlǫkk’. The couplet must originally have been preceded by two lines, and Kock’s suggestions are conjectural. In the present edn, at is taken as the inf. marker ‘to’.