Mjǫk eru mínir rekkar
til mjǫðgjarnir, fornir
ok hér komnir hárir;
hví eruð ævar margir?
Rekkar mínir, hér komnir fornir ok hárir, eru mjǫk til mjǫðgjarnir; hví eruð ævar margir?
My warriors, having come here aged and grizzled, are far too mead-loving; why are you so very many?
[1] mjǫk ‘far’: Mjǫk ‘much, far, greatly’ is here taken as an intensifier with til in l. 2. This is unparalleled, but it may be that mjǫk til is here equivalent to mikilsti ‘too much’ (ModIcel. mikils til of), a possibility suggested by Konráð Gíslason (1892, 47). Mjǫk is taken in the sense ‘in a large number/group’ in Skj B, following Konráð, but this is dubitable; and although the word could be construed as ‘almost’ with komnir in l. 3 (cf. Fritzner: mjǫk 2) this would not make sense in context.