Ok Ingjald
ífjǫrvan trað
reyks rausuðr
á Ræningi,
þás húsþjófr
hyrjar leistum
goðkynning
í gǫgnum sté.
Ok sá yrðr
allri þjóðu
sanngǫrvastr
með Svíum þótti,
es hann sjalfr
sínu fjǫrvi
frœknu fyrstr
of fara skyldi.
Ok rausuðr reyks trað Ingjald ífjǫrvan á Ræningi, þás húsþjófr sté leistum hyrjar í gǫgnum goðkynning. Ok með Svíum þótti sá yrðr sanngǫrvastr allri þjóðu, es hann sjalfr fyrstr skyldi frœknu of fara fjǫrvi sínu.
And the gusher of smoke [FIRE] overcame Ingjaldr alive in Ræningr when the house-thief [FIRE] strode with soles of fire through the descendant of gods. And among the Swedes that fate seemed the most just to all people that he himself should be the first, valiantly, to end his life.
[12] með Svíum ‘among the Swedes’: Interpreters have disagreed on the syntactic status of this. It has been viewed as (a) a parallel to allri þjóðu ‘to all people’ (NN §3201; FF §51; Åkerlund 1939, 109); (b) a phrase modifying yrðr (Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B); or (c) a phrase modifying sanngǫrvastr ‘the most just’ (ÍF 26). (d) However, in the overall sentence structure yrðr ‘fate’ is the subject required by þótti ‘seemed’, and allri þjóðu ‘to all people’ is the dat. required by it. In this context með Svíum ‘among the Swedes’ is most likely to be an adv. phrase with scope over the whole sentence rather than over any particular part.