Enn vas, sús Engla minnir,
egghríð, né mun síðan
hôr við helming meira
hringdrífr koma þingat.
Bitu sverð, en þar þurði,
þunngǫr, fyr Mǫn sunnan
Rǫgnvalds kind, und randir
ramlig folk, ins gamla.
Enn vas egghríð, sús Engla minnir, né mun hôr hringdrífr síðan koma þingat við meira helming. Þunngǫr sverð bitu ramlig folk und randir, en kind Rǫgnvalds ins gamla þurði þar fyr sunnan Mǫn.
Then came the edge-blizzard [BATTLE] which the English remember, and never after will a lofty ring-strewer [GENEROUS RULER] come there with a larger force. Slender-wrought swords bit the mighty troops beneath their shields, and the descendant of Rǫgnvaldr inn gamli (‘the Old’) [= Þorfinnr] rushed forth there south of Man.
[2, 4] né mun síðan … koma ‘and never after will … come’: Mss ‘komid/komit’ is syntactically unsatisfactory and could well be due to a misreading. The emendation to koma was favoured by Kock (NN §832) and Finnbogi Guðmundsson (ÍF 34, 61).
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- |