Hjuggu vér með hjörvi.
Hygg engan þá frýðu,
áðr en á Heflis hestum
Herruðr í styr felli.
Klýfr eigi ægis öndrum
annarr jarl in frægri
lunda völl til lægis
á langskipum síðan.
Sá bar siklingr víða
snart fram í styr hjarta.
Hjuggu vér með hjörvi. Hygg engan þá frýðu, áðr en Herruðr felli í styr á hestum Heflis. Annarr jarl in frægri klýfr eigi síðan völl lunda öndrum ægis, á langskipum, til lægis. Sá siklingr bar víða snart hjarta fram í styr.
We hewed with the sword. No one found fault with us then, I reckon, before Herruðr fell in battle on the horses of Heflir <sea-king> [SHIPS]. No other, more famous jarl will ever again cleave the plain of puffins [SEA] with skis of the sea [SHIPS], on longships, heading into harbour. That leader carried a stout heart far and wide forward into battle.
[5] öndrum ægis ‘with skis of the sea [SHIPS]’: Here ægis is not the name of the sea-giant Ægir, seeing that sea-kings rather than giants form the determinants of ship-kennings, but is the common noun ægis ‘of the sea’, as understood by Finnur Jónsson (1893b; 1905; Skj B). Mss 1824b and 6ˣ have Egils instead of Ægis, but Egill is not recorded as a sea-king name (cf. Björn Sigfússon 1934). Rafn (1826), Pfeiffer (1860), the eds of CPB, Krm 1891 and Wisén (1886-9) nevertheless all read Egils here. Alone among previous eds, Kock (NN §2274) substitutes Ekkils, gen. sg. of Ekkill, an acceptable sea-king name (Björn Sigfússon 1934, 128), and de Vries (1964-7, II, 40 n. 68), apparently accepting this reading, cites as a parallel Sigv Austv 10/5, 7I hestar Ekkils ‘the horses of Ekkill <sea-king> [SHIPS]’, while also citing Eskál Lv 2a/7-8I andra (acc. pl. of ǫndurr ‘ski’) Endils ‘the skis of Endill <sea-king> [SHIPS]’. However, emendation is unnecessary.
case: dat.
number: pl.