Sjá megu rétt, hvé, Ræfils
ríðendr, við brô Gríðar
fjǫrnis fagrt of skornir,
foldviggs, drekar liggja.
Megu sjá rétt, hvé drekar, fagrt of skornir, liggja við brô Gríðar fjǫrnis, Ræfils foldviggs ríðendr.
They can rightly see how dragons, beautifully engraved, lie near the eyelash of the Gríðr <giantess> of the helmet [AXE > AXE-BLADE], riders of the horse of Ræfill’s <sea-king’s> land [(lit. ‘riders of Ræfill’s land-horse’) SEA > SHIP > SEAFARERS].
[1] megu sjá ‘they can ... see’: Megu (3rd pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘can’ is construed with a suppressed subject ‘they’ (see NN §959; NS §15).
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- |