Ok hjaldrreifan hófu
hoddstiklanda miklir
— morðflýtir kná mœta
málmskúrar dyn — hjálmar,
hjaldrs þás hilmir foldar
hugdýrum gaf stýri
(ógnsvellir fær allan)
jarldóm (gǫfugr sóma).
Ok miklir hjálmar hófu hjaldrreifan hoddstiklanda – morðflýtir kná mœta dyn málmskúrar –, þás hilmir foldar gaf hugdýrum stýri hjaldrs jarldóm; gǫfugr ógnsvellir fær allan sóma.
And great helmets promoted the battle-happy hoard-dispenser [GENEROUS MAN = Skúli] – the urger of battles [WARRIOR] meets the din of the metal-shower [BATTLE] –, when the lord of the land [KING = Ingi] gave the noble-minded controller of battle [WARRIOR = Skúli] an earldom; the glorious terror-increaser [WARRIOR] obtains all honour.
[4] hjálmar (m. nom. pl.) ‘helmets’: Altered to hálmar ‘straws’ in R (R*). It is unclear what exactly is meant by ‘helmets’. Most likely it refers to helmeted warriors, and, if so, it is paralleled in Arn Hryn 9/5, 8II Bað hjalma Peitu samnask til hverrar hǫmlu ‘He [Magnús] urged helmets from Poitou to rally at every rowing position’. See also Note to Arn Hryn 9/8II. This could refer to distinguished warriors participating in the ceremony when Skúli was given the title of jarl. The variant hálmar ‘straws’ (Tˣ, U, R*) makes little sense, and Kock (NN §1314) suggests an original reading jálmar ‘noises, crashes’, which he takes as a heiti for ‘battle’. However, jálmr is only attested as a determinant or a base-word in battle-kennings, never as a heiti for ‘battle’ (LP: jalmr).