HSt Rst 23I/4 — Drekinn ‘Drekinn’
Hvasst skaut — hlífar brustu —
hildingr ór lyptingu
síðan (seint mun eyðask)
sóknstrangr (Drekinn langi).
Unnelds yppirunnum
engi kann enn * lengi
heg*ju hilmis seg*ja.
Hollr ok fremstr at ǫllu.
Síðan skaut sóknstrangr hildingr hvasst ór lyptingu; hlífar brustu; seint mun Drekinn langi eyðask. Engi kann enn * lengi seg*ja yppirunnum unnelds heg*ju hilmis. Hollr ok fremstr at ǫllu …
Then the attack-strong ruler [Óláfr] shot fiercely from the raised deck; shields shattered; late will Drekinn langi (‘the Long Serpent’) be cleared [of men]. No one can still for a long time tell the lifting trees of wave-fire [GOLD > MEN] about the condition of the ruler. Faithful and foremost in all things …
readings
[4] Drekinn: so 61, Flat, Ormr inn Bb(112ra), 53, 54, ‘o⸜r⸝nnr hin’ Bb(101vb)
notes
[4] Drekinn langi ‘Drekinn langi (“the Long Serpent”)’: Dreki ‘serpent, dragon’, is a play on the ship-name Ormr inn langi (cf. the use of Linni ‘Serpent’, st. 18/2 and Note). This variant is attested in mss 61 and Flat, representing two classes of the ÓT stemma. The other mss read Ormr, but this would be the lectio facilior, and the line would be metrically irregular since, although it would fit Sievers’ Type A2l (Sievers 1893, 103), the rhyme in such lines does not fall on the secondarily stressed syllable, as it does here (-strangr : langi).