Hávh Lv 1III/4 — of ‘above’
Nús jódraugum ægis
arnar flaug (ok bauga
hygg, at heimboð þiggi
hangagoðs) of vangi.
Nús flaug arnar of vangi ægis jódraugum; hygg, at þiggi heimboð hangagoðs ok bauga.
Now there is an eagle’s flight above the field for the logs of the steed of the ocean [(lit. ‘ocean’s steed-logs’) SHIP > SEAFARERS]; I believe that they may receive an invitation from the god of the hanged [= Óðinn] and rings.
readings
[4] of: af all others
notes
[1, 2, 4] nús flaug arnar of vangi ‘now there is an eagle’s flight above the field’: The sense here is that eagles are soaring above the field in anticipation of battle. — [4] of vangi ‘above the field’: This reading, which has been adopted in the present edn, is only attested in ms. R – all other mss have af vangi ‘from the field’. It is definitely possible to take this prepositional phrase with the second clause, as Kock does (see his interpretation given in Note to [All] above), but that leaves a somewhat awkward first clause: Nús flaug arnar ægis jódraugum ‘Now there is an eagle’s flight for the logs of the steed of the ocean [(lit. ‘ocean’s steed-logs’) SHIP > SEAFARERS]’. The reading of the majority of the mss, af vangi ‘from the field’, is likely to have been caused by the close proximity to heimboð ‘invitation’ (l. 3) and by scribes who were unfamiliar with the more archaic form of the prep. of (later um).