SnSt Ht 56III/3 — of
Hverr ali blóði byrsta
bens rauðsylgjum ylgi,
nema svát gramr of gildi
gráð dag margan vargi?
Gefr oddviti undir
egg nýbitnar vitni;
hann sér Fenris fitjar
framm klóloðnar roðna.
Hverr ali ylgi, byrsta blóði, rauðsylgjum bens, nema svát gramr of gildi vargi gráð margan dag? Oddviti gefr vitni undir, nýbitnar egg; hann sér fitjar Fenris, klóloðnar, roðna framm.
Who might nourish the she-wolf, bristled with blood, with red slurps of the wound [BLOOD], unless the ruler would satisfy the wolf’s hunger many a day? The war-leader gives the wolf wounds, newly bitten by the blade; he sees the hands of Fenrir <wolf> [PAWS], claw-shaggy, turn red at the tips.
notes
[3] of gildi ‘would satisfy’: This is the 3rd pers. sg. pret. subj. of the weak verb gilda with the proclitic expletive particle of. Fritzner: gilda gives the following meanings: 1) udrede, præstere, betale ‘pay out, supply, pay’; 2) gjøre god, fremstille eller omtale som god ‘make good, depict or describe as good’. The sense of gilda in the present context has sparked considerable debate, however (see the overview in NN §1317). Möbius (SnE 1879-81, I, 98) has auszahlen, darreichen, befriedigen ‘pay out, hand out, satisfy’ and Konráð Gíslason (1895-7) translates it as vækker ‘awakens, stirs’, but points out that the literal meaning is foröge ‘increase’. Skj B has forøgede ‘increased’ (LP: gilda 1, ‘göre tyk, dröj’, forøge ‘“make thick, long-lasting,” increase’). Kock suggests a translation tilgodose ‘attend to, look after’ (NN §1317). Faulkes (SnE 2007, 114) provides ‘make strong, increase, encourage; satisfy, do justice to (?)’. In the present edn, gilda is taken in the meaning ‘satisfy’ (= gjalda ‘pay compensation to sby for sth.’: ‘to compensate the wolf for its hunger’; see Fritzner: gjalda 1).