Knútr sásk, — herr hjósk —
hlífð gnast, rǫnd brast,
— guðr svall — folk fell,
fátt, mart, hvít*, svǫrt.
Bargsk ǫld, (beit skjǫld
benskóð) rann þjóð,
hvasst flugu hjalmreyr
hó, lôg (breið) mjó.
Knútr sásk fátt; herr hjósk; hvít* hlífð gnast; svǫrt rǫnd brast; guðr svall; mart folk fell. Hó ǫld bargsk; breið benskóð beit skjǫld; lôg þjóð rann; mjó hjalmreyr flugu hvasst.
Knútr feared little; the army exchanged blows; the white shield cracked; the black shield-rim crashed; battle increased; many men fell. Noble people saved themselves; the broad wound-weapon [SWORD] bit the shield; ignoble people ran; slender helmet-reeds [ARROWS] flew violently.
[5] Bargsk: ‘barsc’ papp25ˣ, R683ˣ
[5] bargsk ‘saved themselves’: The mss. have ‘barsc’ which can be normalised as barsk (inf. berask) ‘befell’. This appears to be an instance of loss of medial [g], however (see Hl 1941, 113). The line is repeated as l. 5 in st. 77, which contains the word bargsk (‘bargs’) in this very position in an identical clause (bargsk ǫld ‘people saved themselves’).