Bana þóttusk þeir bíða vel;
Brandingi svaf loks í hel;
Mardallar var glysligr grátr;
gleðr sá mann, er opt er kátr.
Ásmundr tamði Gnóð við gjálfr;
gulli mælti Þjazi sjálfr;
Niðjungr skóf af haugi horn;
hølzti eru nú minni forn.
Þeir þóttusk bíða bana vel; Brandingi svaf loks í hel; grátr Mardallar var glysligr; sá, er opt er kátr, gleðr mann. Ásmundr tamði Gnóð við gjálfr; Þjazi sjálfr mælti gulli; Niðjungr skóf horn af haugi; eru nú hølzti forn minni.
They determined to face death well; Brandingi at last slept to death; the weeping of Mardǫll <= Freyja> was glittering; the one who is often happy gladdens another. Ásmundr accustomed Gnóð <legendary ship> to the sea; Þjazi himself spoke in gold; Niðjungr scraped a horn from a burial mound; these are now exceedingly old stories.
[6] Þjazi: Giant who, with his brothers, divided their father Ǫlvaldi’s gold by taking mouthfuls in turn (SnE 1998, I, 3); hence the gold-kenning ‘giant’s speech’, alluded to in this line. Cf. þingskil Þjaza ‘Þjazi’s <giant’s> assembly declarations [GOLD]’ (Anon Bjark 6/3). See Meissner 227. This gold-kenning was current in C12th Orkney: glórǫdd Gauta hellis ‘the gleaming-voice of the Gautar of the cave’ (Rv Lv 7/4-5II); kveðja þursa ‘the greeting of giants’ (RvHbreiðm Hl 71/6).