Auðunn Lv 2I/5 — hykk ‘I think’
Stóðu vér und víðum
vindar tjǫlgu linda,
herkir hyrjar serkja;
hvé of vélti þat belti?
Þat hykk hrammfjǫturs hvǫttu
Hlǫkk; fannkat mey rakka
í barrskelfis bjalfa
bjúgs þá raman smjúga.
Stóðu vér und víðum linda tjǫlgu vindar, herkir hyrjar serkja; hvé of vélti belti þat? Hykk Hlǫkk hrammfjǫturs hvǫttu þat; fannkat rakka mey þá smjúga í raman bjalfa bjúgs barrskelfis.
We [I] stood beneath the broad girdle of the branch of the wind, giant of the fire of mail-shirts [SWORD > WARRIOR]; how did the ‘belt’ trick me? I think the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> of the arm-fetter [ARM-RING > WOMAN] encouraged that; I did not find the spirited woman creeping then into the strong hide of the bent pine needle shaker.
notes
[5-6] hykk Hlǫkk hrammfjǫturs þat hvǫttu ‘I think the Hlǫkk <valkyrie> of the arm-fetter [ARM-RING > WOMAN] encouraged that’: Hvǫttu is past inf. of the verb hvetja ‘to whet, encourage’, hence lit. ‘to have encouraged’. The construction hykk ‘I think’ followed by an acc. with past inf. construction is uncommon, but not unprecedented; cf. NS §217b on the construction with verbs of thinking and NS §§220 and 221b on the use of the past. inf. generally.