Ek sá fljúga fugla marga:
aldrtjón Ellu, eggdauða menn,
ben bíldskorna, buðlung Dana,
þjónustumey, þunga báru.
Ek sá marga fugla fljúga: aldrtjón Ellu, eggdauða menn, bíldskorna ben, buðlung Dana, þjónustumey, þunga báru.
I saw many birds fly: life-loss of Ælla <Northumbrian king>, men killed by the sword, lancet-scored wound, king of Danes, serving-girl, heavy wave.
[8] þunga báru ‘heavy wave’: I.e dúfa, ‘wave, dip’ (in poetry; cf. ONP: 2 dúfa, LP: 2. dúfa) and ‘dove, pigeon’. Dúfa is listed in Skm as one of the nine daughters of Ægir and Rán (SnE 1998, I, 95); her name is thus used in poetry as a heiti for ‘wave’. Cf. Þul Sjóvar 4/6, Þul Waves 1/8. SnE 1848 prints heimbrimi, after the annotations of various mss. This is presumably an error for ModIcel. himbrimi, ON himbrin (Þul Fugla 2/3) ‘great northern diver’ (Colymbus glacialis). The second part of this cpd, brimi (more commonly brim; LP: brimi, brim) means ‘surf’ or ‘sea’.