Þorm Lv 10I/3 — inn
Loftungu gaft lengi
látr, þats Fáfnir átti;
þú lézt mér, inn mæri,
merkr fránǫluns vánir.
Verðr emk, varga myrðir
víðlendr, frá þér (síðan
eða heldr of sæ sjaldan)
slíks réttar (skalk vætta).
Lengi gaft Loftungu látr, þats Fáfnir átti; þú, inn mæri, lézt mér vánir merkr fránǫluns. Emk verðr slíks réttar frá þér, víðlendr myrðir varga, eða heldr skalk sjaldan síðan vætta of sæ.
For long you gave Loftunga (‘Praise-tongue’) the lair that Fáfnir owned [gold]; you, famous one, have granted me hopes of the forest of the flashing fish [SERPENT > GOLD]. I am worthy of the same due from you, broad-landed destroyer of outlaws [RULER = Knútr], or instead I shall seldom afterwards hope [to come] over the sea.
notes
[3] inn mæri ‘famous one’: Finnur Jónsson in Skj B takes the ‘enn’ of most of the mss not as the def. art. inn but as the adv. enn ‘still, further’. He emends mæri to mœrar ‘of land’ and analyses this as part of the gold-kenning, which is necessary in his construal since he removes merkr ‘of the forest’ from the kenning: see next Note. However, the emendation is unnecessary, it yields a metrically doubtful line, and as Kock (NN §710A) points out, Þormóðr never uses a form of þú without an appositive vocative phrase.
grammar
Pronouns and determiners: Definite article
The definite article is normally suffixed to nouns, except in some cases where it is used with an adjective. If the noun form ends in a vowel, the 'i' in the article is dropped. If the noun form ends in 'um', the 'm' and 'i' are both dropped. E.g. hesta (acc. pl.) > hestana (acc. pl. definite); hestum (dat. pl.) > hestunum (dat. pl. definite)
| masc. | fem. | neut. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sing. | N A G D | inn inn ins inum | in ina innar inni | it it ins inu |
| pl. | N A G D | inir ina inna inum | inar inar inna inum | in in inna inum |