Tormiðlaðr vas tívum
talhreinn meðal beina;
hvat kvað * hapta snytrir
hjalmfaldinn því valda.
Margspakr of nam mæla
môr valkastar bôru
— vasat Hœnis vinr hônum
hollr — af fornum þolli.
Talhreinn vas tívum tormiðlaðr meðal beina; hjalmfaldinn snytrir hapta kvað * hvat valda því. Margspakr môr bôru valkastar of nam mæla af fornum þolli; vinr Hœnis vasat hollr hônum.
The dung-reindeer [OX] was difficult for the gods to pierce between the shanks; the helmet-capped instructor of the divine powers [= Óðinn] said something was causing this. The deeply wise seagull of the wave of the corpse-heap [BLOOD > RAVEN/EAGLE = Þjazi] began to speak from an ancient tree; the friend of Hœnir <god> [= Loki] was not well-disposed to him.
[1] Tormiðlaðr: so Tˣ(26r), Tˣ(38v), W, U, A, C, tormiðlaðar R(25v), ‘tormildaðr’ R(36v)
[1] tormiðlaðr ‘difficult … to pierce’: Understood here as a hap. leg. adj., comprised of tor- ‘difficult’ plus miðlaðr ‘pierced’, p. p. of miðla ‘pierce’ (for this sense, cf. Sigsk 47/7-8), referring to the gods’ attempt to find out by piercing the meat with a sword or other sharp instrument whether the ox was cooked. Miðla can also mean ‘divide, share’, so the meaning may possibly be ‘difficult to divide’ (because the meat was not cooked).