Ok †sifuna† síðan
sverðs liðhat*ar gerðu
hlífar borðs við Hǫrða
harðgleypnis dyn barða,
áðr hylriðar hæði
hrjóðendr fjǫru þjóðar
við skyld-Breta skytju
skálleik Heðins reikar.
Ok síðan gerðu †sifuna† sverðs liðhat*ar dyn harðgleypnis borðs hlífar við Hǫrða barða, áðr hylriðar, hrjóðendr þjóðar fjǫru, hæði Heðins reikar skálleik við skyld-Breta skytju.
And afterwards the … haters of the help of the sword [= Þórr and Þjálfi] held a din of the harsh swallower of the board of defence [SHIELD > SWORD > BATTLE] against the Hǫrðar of precipices [GIANTS], before the pool-steppers [= Þórr and Þjálfi], the destroyers of the people of the shore [GIANTS], could engage in the game of the bowl of the hair-parting [HAT] of Heðinn <legendary hero> [(lit. ‘bowl-game of the hair-parting of Heðinn’) HELMET > BATTLE] against the kin-Britons of the markswoman [= Skaði] [GIANTS].
[8] Heðins reikar skálleik ‘the game of the bowl of the hair-parting [HAT] of Heðinn <legendary hero> [(lit. ‘bowl-game of the hair-parting of Heðinn’) HELMET > BATTLE]’: This kenning is based on the kenning pattern ‘game of weapons’, with ‘helmet’ as a variation on the weapon component. The determinant ‘helmet’ is replaced by the kenning ‘hat of Heðinn <legendary hero>’, and in this kenning the base-word ‘hat’ is replaced by skál reikar ‘bowl of the parting of the hair’. On the pattern behind the helmet-kenning ‘head-covering of a hero’, see Meissner 164. This interpretation was first suggested by Finnur Jónsson (1900b, 390) and has been adopted by all subsequent eds.