Arn Þorfdr 9II/5 — þinga ‘conflict’
Ulfs tuggu rauð eggjar,
eitt þars Torfnes heitir,
— ungr olli því þengill —
— þat vas mánadag — fránar.
Sungu þar, til þinga,
þunn fyr Ekkjal sunnan
sverð, es siklingr barðisk
snarr við Skotlands harra.
Fránar eggjar rauð tuggu ulfs, þars eitt heitir Torfnes; ungr þengill olli því; þat vas mánadag. Þunn sverð sungu þar fyr sunnan Ekkjal, es siklingr, snarr til þinga, barðisk við harra Skotlands.
Bright blades grew red on the wolf’s mouthful [CORPSE], at a place called Tarbatness (Torfnes); young, the ruler caused that; it was a Monday. Slender swords sang there south of the Oykell, as the princeling, swift into conflict, fought with Scotland’s lord.
notes
[5, 8] snarr til þinga ‘swift into conflict’: (a) This translation assumes that þing is equivalent to the battle-heiti in phrases such as such as HaukrV Ísldr 19/3-4IV (C12th) snarr til snerru ‘swift into battle’ or Eviðs Lv 2/2V (C11th) fúss til snerru; the phrase qualifies siklingr ‘princeling’ (so Skj B). (b) An alternative, favoured by Kock (NN §830), is to take sungu þar til þinga þunn ... sverð (reordered as þunn sverð sungu þar til þinga) together as a bold image, ‘slender swords sang there in anticipation of conflict’. (c) If þing were understood not as ‘conflict’ but as ‘goods, booty’ one could construe siklingr barðisk til þinga við harra Skotlands ‘the princeling fought for goods/booty against Scotland’s lord’.