Hófu skjótt, en skófu,
skǫpt, ginnregin, brinna
en sunr biðils sviðnar
— sveipr varð í fǫr — Greipar.
Þats of fátt á fjalla
Finns iljabrú minni.
Baugs þák bifum fáða
bifkleif at Þórleifi.
Skǫpt hófu skjótt brinna, en ginnregin skófu, en sunr biðils Greipar sviðnar; sveipr varð í fǫr. Þats of fátt á minni iljabrú Finns fjalla. Þák bifkleif baugs, fáða bifum, at Þórleifi.
Shafts quickly began to burn, which the mighty powers had shaved, and the son of the wooer of Greip <giantess> [GIANT > = Þjazi] is scorched; there was a swerve in his course. That’s depicted on my footsole-bridge of the Finnr <Saami> of the mountains [GIANT = Hrungnir > SHIELD]. I received the quivering cliff of the shield-boss [SHIELD], decorated with moving stories, from Þorleifr.
[4] sveipr varð í fǫr ‘there was a swerve in his course’: An ironic understatement: Þjazi plummeted downwards as his wings caught fire and his course was altered irrevocably. Sveipr signals a sudden change of movement, an abrupt halt (cf. LP: sveipr 1). Þjóðólfr refrains from describing or even alluding to the gods’ killing of Þjazi, though his audience would have known what happened to the giant.