Segiz þat minni móður;
mun hon ei syni kemba
svarðar láð í sumri
svanhvít í Danmörku.
Hafði ek henni heitit,
at ek heim koma munda;
nú mun segg á síðu
sverðs egg dregin verða.
Segiz þat minni móður; hon, svanhvít, mun ei kemba láð svarðar syni í sumri í Danmörku. Ek hafði heitit henni, at ek munda koma heim; egg sverðs mun nú verða dregin á síðu segg.
Let it be told to my mother; she, swan-white, will not comb the land of the scalp [HEAD] of her son this summer in Denmark. I had promised her that I would come home; now the sword’s edge will be drawn against the warrior’s [my] side.
[4] svan‑: núna 554h βˣ
[4] svanhvít ‘swan-white’: Taken as an adj. here, but it could be the name of Ásbjǫrn’s mother, to whom the poem is to be conveyed. In Vǫl 2/5 Svanhvít is the name of one of the three swan-maidens who are said in the poem’s prose introduction to appear to Vǫlundr and his brothers, although in this introductory prose (NK 116) the word is used both as an epithet and a pers. n.