Upplǫnd fekk til enda
ôss gneista ok þar reisti
kristnihald, þats heldu
hverr veitir sverðs beita.
Áðr stýrðu þeim eyðar
ellifu fyrr hella
mildings máls, en guldu
menn vísliga gísla.
Ôss gneista fekk Upplǫnd til enda, ok reisti þar kristnihald, þats hverr veitir beita sverðs heldu. Ellifu eyðar máls mildings hella stýrðu þeim áðr fyrr, en menn guldu gísla vísliga.
The god of the sword [WARRIOR = Óláfr Haraldsson] got the whole of Opplandene, and established Christianity there, which each benefactor of the swingers of the sword [WARRIORS > GENEROUS MAN] maintained. Eleven destroyers of the speech of the lord of the cave [GIANT > GOLD > GENEROUS MEN] ruled it [Opplandene] previously, but men wisely gave hostages.
[5, 6] áðr fyrr ‘previously’: This appears to be a tautologous construction. Kock (NN §2777) emends adv. fyrr ‘before’ to fyrri on metrical grounds (referring to NN §2502C), but fyrri was originally an adj., only becoming an adv. at a later stage (LP: fyrri 5), and it is not clear what the adj. would qualify. The adv. fyrr is therefore retained in this edn.