[6] meira hlut ‘the better lot’: Hlutr m. is literally ‘lot’, a token in sortilege, as well as ‘share, part’, but in phrases such as lægri hlutr ‘worse (lit. ‘lower’) lot’ or minni hlutr ‘lesser lot’ it describes the comparative position of two competing parties. Perhaps, as Ohlmarks suggests (1958, 455), the skald’s desire to play down his hero’s defeat influenced a phrasing which attributes Eiríkr’s victory to the workings of chance.