Esat und jarðar hǫslu
— orðbrjótr Dǫnum forðar
moldreks — munka valdi
mæringr an þú nærri.
Esat mæringr und hǫslu jarðar nærri valdi munka an þú; moldreks orðbrjótr forðar Dǫnum.
There is not a prince under the hazel of the earth [= Yggdrasill] closer to the ruler of monks [= God] than you; the breaker of the speech of the soil-ruler [(lit. ‘speech-breaker of the soil-ruler’) GIANT > GOLD > GENEROUS MAN] protects Danes.
[1] Esat und jarðar hǫslu (‘Erat vnd iarþar havslv’): ‘Eru . .. j́ardar hellu’ 744ˣ
[1] hǫslu jarðar ‘the hazel of the earth [= Yggdrasill]’: The world-tree Yggdrasill is usually regarded as an ash, but in this kenning it is referred to figuratively as hasla ‘hazel’, representing the category ‘tree’. For Yggdrasill, see Gylf (SnE 2005, 17-19, 50-1), Vsp 47 and Grí 30/2. This is the only kenning in the corpus of Old Norse poetry that paraphrases the world-tree (Meissner 426).