Fell inn forsnjalli
fyst, inn víglysti,
ýgr í austrvegi,
allr á Helpalla,
dauðr, um dalreyðar,
dáðkunnr, miskunnir.
Beit at brandmóti
brynstingr víkingum.
Inn forsnjalli, inn víglysti, ýgr í austrvegi, fell fyst, allr á Helpalla, dauðr, dáðkunnr, um miskunnir dalreyðar. Brynstingr beit víkingum at brandmóti.
The very brave one, the battle-eager one, fearsome in the east, fell first, lifeless onto Hel’s benches, dead, deed-renowned, during the mercies of the valley-char [SNAKE > SUMMER]. The corslet-stabber [SWORD] bit for vikings at the sword-meeting [BATTLE].
[2] fyst ‘first’: The prose introducing this stanza states (Flat 1860-8, I, 278): En Sorlli lifðe þeirra skemr ‘But Sǫrli was the shorter-lived of them’, i.e. of himself and Hǫgni. It is not certain, however, that the sup. adv. fy(r)st ‘first’ (as opposed to the comp. adv. fyrr ‘earlier’) necessarily refers here specifically to the first of two, as Finnur Jónsson (Skj B), van Hamel (1935-6, 280), and Barwell (1976, 84) seem to have thought; the meaning could simply be that Sǫrli, or whoever inn forsnjalli ‘the brave one’ may be, was the first of an unspecified number of combatants to fall.