Né ættstuðill ættar
ógnherði mun verða
— skyldr emk hróðri at halda —
Hilditanns in mildri.
Né mun verða ættstuðill ættar Hilditanns in mildri ógnherði; emk skyldr at halda hróðri.
There will not be a lineage-pillar of the family of Hilditann (‘War-tooth’) [DANISH KING] more generous than the terror-enhancer [WARRIOR]; I am bound to uphold praise.
[2] ‑herði: herðir all others
[2, 4] in mildri ógnherði ‘more generous than the terror-enhancer [WARRIOR]’: The word ógn ‘terror’ is frequently used as a heiti for ‘battle’; the cpd thus characterises the king as successful in war. In the construction in mildri ógnherði, the word in is a colourless adjunct of the comparative (probably originally ‘yet’ in meaning) common in verse (LP: enn 4), and the use of the dat. for ógnherði ‘terror-enhancer’ is the older method of expressing the comparand in comparative constructions. The reading inn mildi ógnherðir ‘the generous terror-enhancer’ of R, W is a plausible noun phrase (and adopted in SnE 1848-87), but it would have to be the subject of the verb of the main clause, with the resulting meaning that the generous warrior is not (or will not be) a pillar of the family. This is not the sort of sentiment normally expressed in panegyric.
case: dat.