Varða, gims sem gerði
Gerðr bjúglimum herða
— gnýr óx Fjǫlnis fúra —
farlig sæing jarli,
þás hringfôum Hanga
hrynserk Viðurr brynju
— hruðusk riðmarar Róða
rastar — varð at kasta.
Varða, sem farlig Gerðr gims gerði jarli sæing bjúglimum herða — gnýr fúra Fjǫlnis óx —, þás Viðurr brynju varð at kasta hringfôum hrynserk Hanga; riðmarar rastar Róða hruðusk.
It did not come about as if an attractive Gerðr <goddess> of the fire [WOMAN] made a bed for the jarl with her curving branches of the shoulders [ARMS] — the din of the fires of Fjǫlnir <= Óðinn> [SWORDS > BATTLE] increased —, when the Viðurr <= Óðinn> of the mail-shirt [WARRIOR = Hákon] had to throw off his ring-depleted clanging shirt of Hangi <= Óðinn> [MAIL-SHIRT]; the riding horses of the path of Róði <sea-king> [SEA > SHIPS] were cleared.
[2] ‑limum: so 39, F, J1ˣ, 61, 54, Bb, limum apparently corrected from ‑lima Kˣ, ‑lima J2ˣ, ‘timum jmu’ or ‘tunum jmu’ 510
[2] bjúglimum herða ‘with her curving branches of the shoulders [ARMS]’: Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 26) compares axllimar ‘shoulder-branches [ARMS]’ in KormǪ Lv 43/5V (Korm 62). Finnur Jónsson (1886b, 319-20; Hkr 1893-1901, IV; Skj B; LP: gim, Gerðr) objects that the expression ‘with arms’ is superfluous in the stanza, and that ‘fire’ is rare in woman-kennings (cf. Note to l. 1), and instead posits a kenning Gerðr gims bjúglima herða ‘Gerðr <goddess> of the fire of the curving branches of the shoulders [ARMS > GOLD > WOMAN]’. This is an attractive solution, but it requires adopting gen. pl. -lima, the reading found only in Kˣ (with hesitation) and J2ˣ, whereas ‑limum has support from both branches of the Hkr stemma and from the ÓT mss.
case: dat.
number: pl.