Ásb Ævkv 5VIII (OStór 8)/4 — skerjum ‘the skerries’
Annat var, þá er inni.
Ek veitta ferð sveittri
högg með hvassri tuggu
Herjans suðr í skerjum
Elfar. Opt nam kólfi
Ormr hagliga at forma
mest, þá er Miðjungs traustir
mágar eptir lágu.
Annat var, þá er inni. Ek veitta högg með hvassri tuggu Herjans sveittri ferð suðr í skerjum Elfar. Ormr nam opt at forma kólfi hagliga mest, þá er traustir mágar Miðjungs lágu eptir.
It used to be different, when inside. I dealt blows with the sharp mouthful of Herjan <= Fenrir(?)> [SWORD] to the bloody host down south among the skerries of the Götaälv. Ormr often aimed with the arrow skilfully mostly when the trusted kinsmen of Miðjungr <giant> [GIANTS] were left lying.
notes
[4-5] í skerjum Elfar ‘among the skerries of the Götaälv’: Although its two parts are separated across the end of the first helmingr and the beginning of the second helmingr for metrical reasons, í skerjum Elfar is to be understood as the cpd p. n. Elfarsker, name of a group of skerries at the mouth of the Göta river in present-day Sweden. Separation of cpd elements across helmingr boundaries is otherwise always avoided in skaldic poetry. The name Elfarsker occurs in several mythical-heroic sagas, including three times in Ǫrv, once in verse (ǪrvOdd Lv 16/2 (Ǫrv 49), FSGJ 2, 348). Kock (NN §2495) proposes elfar as the object of the verb forma ‘create, bring about, do’ in the sense ‘create rivers (of blood)’.