Mjǫk lét margar snekkjur
(mærðarǫrr) sem knǫrru
(óðr vex skalds) ok skeiðar
skjaldhlynr á brim dynja,
þás ólítinn útan
oddherðir fór gerða
— mǫrg vas lind fyr landi —
lǫnd síns fǫður rǫndu.
Skjaldhlynr lét mjǫk margar snekkjur sem knǫrru ok skeiðar dynja á brim — mærðarǫrr óðr skalds vex —, þás oddherðir fór ólítinn útan gerða lǫnd fǫður síns rǫndu; mǫrg lind vas fyr landi.
The shield-maple [WARRIOR] made very many warships, as well as merchant ships and longships, resound on the surf — the praise-liberal poetry of the skald grows —, when the point-hardener [WARRIOR] advanced at full strength from offshore to enclose the lands of his father with the shield; many a linden-shield was before the land.
[2] mærðarǫrr ‘praise-liberal’: This is taken here as a cpd, though a phrase ǫrr mærðar ‘liberal with praise’ would also be possible. The adj. is construed, as in most eds, as qualifying óðr ‘poetry’. Ǫrr ‘swift, bold, liberal’ usually qualifies terms for rulers or warriors in skaldic poetry, and the phrase may alternatively be taken with skjaldhlynr ‘shield-maple [WARRIOR]’, meaning ‘eager for praise’ (so Skald; NN §580). However, this assumes an unattested meaning of ‘eager’ for the common word ǫrr.