Hókr Eirfl 3I/2 — reyr ‘reeds’
Fjǫrð kom heldr í harða
— hnitu reyr saman dreyra;
tungl skôrusk þá tingla
tangar — Ormr inn langi,
þás borðmikinn Barða
brynflagðs Reginn lagði
— jarl vann hjalms at holmi
hríð — við Fáfnis síðu.
Fjǫrð kom Ormr inn langi í heldr harða — reyr dreyra hnitu saman; tungl tangar tingla skôrusk þá —, þás Reginn brynflagðs lagði borðmikinn Barða við síðu Fáfnis; jarl vann hríð hjalms at holmi.
Last year Ormr inn langi (‘the Long Serpent’) underwent a rather harsh [trial] — reeds of gore [SWORDS] crashed together; moons of the tongs of prow-boards [SHIELDS] were cut then —, when the Reginn <dwarf> of the byrnie-troll-woman [AXE > WARRIOR = Eiríkr] brought the high-sided Barði (‘Prow’) alongside Fáfnir; the jarl fought a storm of the helmet [BATTLE] near the island.
readings
[2] reyr: ‘reyrv’ Bb
notes
[2] reyr dreyra ‘reeds of gore [SWORDS]’: Taken here as a kenning for ‘swords’ with reyr (n. nom. pl.) ‘reeds’ as the base-word (so also LP: 1. reyr and ÍF 29, and cf. KormǪ Lv 50/6V (Korm 71); ÍF 26 translates it as vopn ‘weapons’). Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) gives the referent pilene ‘the arrows’, which is also possible, but the prose of Hkr specifies that the battle was a hǫggorrosta lit. ‘blow-battle’, i.e. hand to hand fighting with swords, axes and halberds.
kennings
- reyr dreyra — reeds of gore [SWORDS]
grammar
case: nom.
number: pl.