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.
[8] fingi: fingu R, Tˣ, fengu W
[8] fingi ‘accept’: Lit. ‘they should accept’. All mss’ indic. verb fingu/fengu has been emended to subj. fingi after heldr an ‘rather than’ (l. 7); so Skj B and Skald, cf. NS §§310-13. Both R and Tˣ record the earlier form fingu (beside fengu) of the 3rd pers. pl. pret. indic. of fá ‘receive, accept, get’ (cf. ANG §504 and Anm. 1 and 5), which is necessary to provide aðalhending.