RvHbreiðm Hl 70III/1 — grams ‘of the lord’
Guðr vas, en grams niðr,
(gekk herr berjask)
flótta, þars fell drótt,
(fúss) trauðr, kvik, dauð.
Þótti þar ulfs ætt,
(ǫrva gerðisk hríð snǫr)
eigi vas fleins flaug,
full, svǫng, skǫmm (lǫng).
Guðr vas kvik, en niðr grams trauðr flótta; herr gekk fúss berjask, þars dauð drótt fell. Svǫng ætt ulfs þótti þar full; snǫr hríð ǫrva gerðisk lǫng; flaug fleins vas eigi skǫmm.
The battle was lively and the kinsman of the lord [= Knútr] reluctant to flee; the army went eager to fight where the dead retinue fell. The hungry family of the wolf seemed sated there; the swift storm of arrows [BATTLE] became long; the flight of the spear [BATTLE] was not short.
readings
[1] en grams niðr: ‘en gramur grār … udr’ papp25ˣ, ‘en gram …’ R683ˣ
notes
[1] niðr grams ‘the kinsman of the lord [= Knútr]’: This is Jón Helgason’s suggestion (Hl 1941). Rugman’s transcriptions (‘en gramur grār … udr’ papp25ˣ, ‘en gram … | …udur’ R683ˣ) show that the first word must have been abbreviated in his exemplar (the stem ‘grā’), but that he was uncertain of the ending (rendered as ‘-r’ in papp25ˣ and as ‘…’ in R683ˣ). He could only read with certainty the last two letters of the second word (‘dr’).
kennings
- niðr grams — the kinsman of the lord [= Knútr]