Hfr ErfÓl 24I/8 — fyr ‘before’
Harðgǫrvan lét hjǫrvi
holms verða Týr sverða
vind á víðu sundi
vígþey Heðins meyjar,
áðr an Ormi næði
Eirekr eða hlut meira;
mǫrg óð bitr í blóði
benkneif fyr Ôleifi.
Týr sverða lét vind meyjar Heðins, vígþey, verða harðgǫrvan hjǫrvi á víðu sundi holms, áðr an Eirekr næði Ormi eða meira hlut; mǫrg bitr benkneif óð í blóði fyr Ôleifi.
The Týr <god> of swords [WARRIOR] made the wind of the maiden of Heðinn <legendary hero> [= Hildr > BATTLE], war-breeze [BATTLE], become hard-fought with the sword on the wide sound of the islet, before Eiríkr got Ormr (‘Serpent’) and the better lot; many a biting wound-hook [SWORD] waded in blood before Óláfr.
notes
[8] fyr Ôleifi ‘before Óláfr’: The usual sense of fyr(ir), ‘before, in the presence of’, is assumed here (so also Skj B); battle similarly rages fyr skylja (‘before the king’) in st. 12/6-7. Alternatively, fyr(ir) + dat. can express disadvantage (e.g. taka fé fyrir öðrum ‘to take property from another/others’, CVC: fyrir C. III; NN §3057), and fyr Ôleifi could be taken with ll. 5-6, referring to the seizure of Ormr despite Óláfr’s defence (so Skald).