Ǫll vas hrædd við hollan
hrafni elgbjóð stafna
(vítt bauð ǫðlingr ýtum)
óþjóð (siðu góða).
Þann vissu gram gumnar,
grímu fárs þeirs vôru
sannmiðjungar, svinna
sér leiðastan, heiðnir.
Ǫll óþjóð vas hrædd við stafna elgbjóð, hollan hrafni; ǫðlingr bauð ýtum góða siðu vítt. Gumnar, þeirs vôru heiðnir sannmiðjungar fárs grímu, vissu þann svinna gram leiðastan sér.
The whole wicked tribe was afraid of the offerer of the elk of stems [(lit. ‘elk-offerer of stems’) SHIP > SEAFARER], gracious to the raven; the ruler proclaimed a good faith to people widely. Men who were heathen true giants of the harm of the helmet [SWORD > WARRIORS] knew that clever prince [to be] most hateful to them.
[5] gumnar ‘men’: This is abbreviated in the ms. with a superscript nasal bar over the first vowel. This is ambiguous, and previous eds have taken the word as gunnar, which could be gen. sg. of gunnr f. ‘battle’ or the valkyrie-name Gunnr, an additional determinant for the kenning. Thus LP: gríma 1 explains gríma gunnar ‘mask of battle’ as ‘helmet’, whose fár ‘harm’ is battle or sword. However, gríma f. often means ‘helmet’ alone (Meissner 164), and the same abbreviation stands for <m> in gumnum in st. 11/1.