Anon Liðs 9I/7 — gætir ‘watches over’
Hvern morgin sér horna
Hlǫkk á Tempsar bakka
— skalat Hanga má hungra —
hjalmskóð roðin blóði.
Rýðr eigi sá sveigir
sára lauk í ári,
hinns Grjótvarar gætir,
gunnborðs, fyr Stað norðan.
Hvern morgin sér Hlǫkk horna hjalmskóð roðin blóði á bakka Tempsar; má Hanga skalat hungra. Sá sveigir gunnborðs, hinns gætir Grjótvarar fyr norðan Stað, rýðr eigi lauk sára í ári.
Every morning the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> of drinking horns [WOMAN] sees the helmet-destroyers [SWORDS] reddened with blood on the bank of the Thames; the seagull of Hangi <= Óðinn> [RAVEN/EAGLE] must not go hungry. That brandisher of the battle-plank [SHIELD > WARRIOR] who watches over Grjótvǫr [Steinvǫr] to the north of Stad does not redden the leek of wounds [SWORD] in a hurry.
notes
[7] Grjótvarar ‘Grjótvǫr [Steinvǫr]’: The (presumed) girlfriend under the protection of her unnamed father or guardian is named as Grjótvǫr, which appears to be ofljóst for Steinvǫr since grjót and steinn both mean ‘stone’ and the name Steinvǫr is attested while Grjótvǫr is not. The ‘stone’ element in the name, emphasised by ofljóst, chimes in with those in sts 6/7-8 and 8/4, but for what rhetorical purpose is unclear. This woman is mentioned nowhere else and may have been no more than the stereotypical ‘girl back home’. In an excerpt from Styrmir’s saga of Óláfr helgi in Flat, Óláfr composes a lausavísa (Ólhelg Lv 4) about the loss of a girlfriend, and there too there is mention of Staðr and a play on the idea of stones.