Bragi Rdr 10III/1 — stillir ‘The controller’
Letrat lýða stillir
landa vanr á sandi
— þá svall heipt í Hǫgna —
hǫðglamma mun stǫðva,
es þrymregin þremja
þróttig Heðin* sóttu,
heldr an Hildar svíra
hringa þeir of fingi.
Stillir lýða, vanr landa, letrat stǫðva mun hǫðglamma á sandi – þá svall heipt í Hǫgna –, es þróttig þremja þrymregin sóttu Heðin*, heldr an þeir of fingi hringa svíra Hildar.
The controller of men [RULER], lacking lands, does not hold back from stopping the desire of battle-wolves [WARRIORS] on the sand – then hatred swelled in Hǫgni –, when the enduring gods of the noise of sword-edges [(lit. ‘noise-gods of sword-edges’) BATTLE > WARRIORS] attacked Heðinn, rather than accept the rings of the neck of Hildr.
notes
[1-2] stillir lýða, vanr landa ‘the controller of men [RULER], lacking lands’: The phrase vanr landa ‘lacking lands’ is understood here as functioning adjectivally to identify the kind of ruler in question, one whose domain is the sea. The name Hǫgni appears in a list of sea-kings’ names (Þul Sækonunga 3/2). Most of the analogues to the legend of the Hjaðningar represent both Hildr’s father and her abductor as travelling by ship and fighting on an island (cf. á sandi ‘on the sand’ l. 2, í holmi ‘on the island’ st. 11/1).
kennings
- Stillir lýða, — The controller of men, [RULER]
grammar
case: nom.