Kunni tolf, sás, tanna,
tíðum, Hallinskíða
ógnarstafr, of jǫfra,
íþróttir, framm sótti.
Ógnarstafr tanna Hallinskíða, sás tíðum sótti framm of jǫfra, kunni tolf íþróttir.
The terror-stave of the teeth of Hallinskíði <= Heimdallr> [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN], who often launched attacks on princes, had twelve skills.
[3] ‑stafr: starfr J1ˣ
[3] ógnarstafr ‘the terror-stave’: Ógn ‘terror’ has the secondary meaning ‘battle’, and stafr ógnar occurs as a kenning for ‘warrior’ in Ótt Knútdr 11/7. Here, though, the primary sense ‘terror’ is required to complete the kenning: the generous man frightens gold away, i.e. dispenses it liberally. This is another example of a rare kenning type in which the base-word is compounded with an element denoting an action of which the determinant is the object; cf. sœkialfr ‘attacking elf’ in st. 13/3 and Note to st. 13/3, 4.
case: nom.