Þorm Lv 18I/4 — Hver ‘Hver’
Brennum ǫll fyr innan
inni, þaus vér finnum,
(land tegask herr með hjǫrvi)
Hverbjǫrg (fyr gram verja).
Ýs (hafi allra húsa
Innþrœndir kol sinna)
angr skal kveykt í klungri,
(kǫld) ef ek má valda.
Brennum ǫll inni fyr innan Hverbjǫrg, þaus vér finnum; herr tegask verja land fyr gram með hjǫrvi. Innþrœndir hafi kǫld kol allra húsa sinna; angr ýs skal kveykt í klungri, ef ek má valda.
Let’s burn all the dwellings inside Hverbjǫrg that we find; the people show themselves ready to defend the land against the king with the sword. Let the Innþrœndir have the cold coals of all their houses; the sorrow of the yew [FIRE] shall be ignited in the thorns, if I can have my way.
readings
[4] Hver‑: Her‑ 972ˣ, 321ˣ, 73aˣ, 68, 61, Bb, Flat, Tóm, ‘hun’ papp4ˣ
notes
[1, 4] fyr innan Hverbjǫrg ‘inside Hverbjǫrg’: The prepositional phrase could alternatively modify finnum ‘find’ (l. 2). See further Note to l. 4, Hverbjǫrg. — [4] Hverbjǫrg ‘Hverbjǫrg’: (a) If indeed this is a p. n. (and the elements would be rare in Norway), the site is now unidentifiable, though presumably it was in Verdalen (ON Veradalr) near Stiklestad. (b) Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 27) instead took hverbjǫrg as ‘kettle-crag’, a kenning for ‘house’. (c) The variant herbjǫrg (so Fms 12, 97; LP (1860)) would give ‘army crags’ and herborg (so Fms 5, 55) ‘army strongholds'.