Bragi Rdr 3III/4 — draum ‘dream’
Knátti eðr við illan
Jǫrmunrekkr at vakna
með dreyrfáar dróttir
draum í sverða flaumi.
Rósta varð í ranni
Randvés hǫfuðniðja,
þás hrafnbláir hefndu
harma Erps of barmar.
Jǫrmunrekkr knátti eðr at vakna við illan draum með dreyrfáar dróttir í flaumi sverða. Rósta varð í ranni hǫfuðniðja Randvés, þás hrafnbláir of barmar Erps hefndu harma.
Jǫrmunrekkr then awakened with an evil dream among the blood-stained troops in the eddy of swords [BATTLE]. There was tumult in the hall of the chief kinsmen of Randvér [= the dynasty of the Goths], when the raven-black brothers of Erpr [= Hamðir and Sǫrli] avenged their injuries.
notes
[1, 2, 4] knátti at vakna við illan draum ‘awakened with an evil dream’: An Old and Modern Icelandic idiom used of someone who awakes from sleep to a nightmarish reality over which he has no control (cf. Wood 1960b). Some scholars (e.g. Vogt 1930b, 3-5) maintain that Jǫrmunrekkr was asleep and woke from a bad dream. In Skm Guðrún advises the brothers to attack Jǫrmunrekkr at night while he is asleep.