Styrbjǫrn réð til styrjar
styrfimr meginsnimma;
hildingr gekk at hjaldri
hildarfúss und skildi.
Eggþinga skar eggjum
eggjandi fjǫr seggja;
vargfœðir rauð vargi
varghollr granar mǫrgum.
Styrfimr Styrbjǫrn réð meginsnimma til styrjar; hildingr gekk hildarfúss und skildi at hjaldri. Eggjandi eggþinga skar fjǫr seggja eggjum; varghollr vargfœðir rauð granar mǫrgum vargi.
Battle-swift Styrbjǫrn engaged in battle extremely early; the warrior went war-eager beneath the shield to war. The egger-on of edge-assemblies [BATTLES > WARRIOR] severed men’s lives with edges; the wolf-devoted wolf-feeder [WARRIOR] reddened the whiskers of many a wolf.
[3] hildingr ‘the warrior’: Hildingr is a heiti for ‘ruler’ (see SnE 1998, I, 103 and Þul Konunga 2/1), but it is derived from hildr ‘battle, war’ and must originally have meant ‘warrior’ (see SnE 1998, II, 309). The present translation preserves the play on words in this stanza.