Flaut of set við sveita
sóknar alfs á golfi
hræva dǫgg, þars hǫggnar
hendr sem fœtr of kenndu.
Fell í blóði blandinn
brunn ǫlskakki — runna
þats á Leifa landa
laufi fátt — at haufði.
Dǫgg hræva flaut of set við sveita alfs sóknar á golfi, þars of kenndu hǫggnar hendr sem fœtr. Ǫlskakki fell at haufði í brunn blandinn blóði; þats fátt á laufi runna landa Leifa.
Dew of corpses [BLOOD] flowed over the bench together with the blood of the elf of attack [WARRIOR = Jǫrmunrekkr] on the floor, where people recognised hewn arms and legs. The ale-dispenser [RULER = Jǫrmunrekkr] fell head-first into a well mixed with blood; that is painted on the leaf of the trees of the lands of Leifi <sea-king> [SEA > SHIPS > SHIELD].
[7-8] á laufi runna landa Leifa ‘on the leaf of the trees of the lands of Leifi <sea-king> [SEA > SHIPS > SHIELD]’: A three-part kenning for the shield, painted (or otherwise decorated) with a picture of the assault upon Jǫrmunrekkr that Bragi replicates in the word-picture of this stanza. Just as in st. 1, where a shield is compared to a leaf (blað), so here the comparison is with a bright, living thing, the leaf of the kind of tree that ‘grows’ in the lands of the sea-king Leifi, namely a Viking-Age ship, on which shields were hung in rows along the gunwale. In this kenning there is a metaphorical connection betweeṇ all three of its elements (cf. Meissner 171; Marold 1993b, 297-8).
case: gen.
number: pl.