Bôru bǫslar fleiri
bogmenn at hǫr tognum;
mundit þann dag Þrœndi
þreyta fyrr at skeytum.
Svá þykkt flugu síðan
snœridǫrr of skœru
— ótt vas ǫrdrif látit —
illa sátt á milli.
Bogmenn bôru fleiri bǫslar at tognum hǫr; þann dag mundit Þrœndi þreyta fyrr at skeytum. Síðan flugu snœridǫrr of skœru svá þykkt, sátt illa á milli; ótt ǫrdrif vas látit.
Bowmen placed more arrows on the drawn bowstring; that day the Þrœndir would not be the first to let up with their missiles. Then the thonged javelins flew over the fight so densely [that] you could hardly see between them; a raging arrow-drift was sent.
[8] á milli ‘between’: This is the majority reading, also preferred in ÍF 28 and Hkr 1991 over í milli, found only in the K transcripts Kˣ and papp 18ˣ. Since the prep. á / í is metrically unstressed, there is no other evidence to show which is the original. The earlier form of milli was miðli; the rhyme here on illa proves that assimilation of ðl > ll was well advanced by this date (cf. Finnur Jónsson 1901, 122).