Þá var svarf um siglu,
er sær of mér gnúði;
ek varð einn með átta
innanborðs at vinna.
Dælla er til dyngju
dagverð konum færa
en Elliða ausa
á úrigri báru.
Þá var svarf um siglu, er sær gnúði of mér; ek varð einn at vinna með átta innanborðs. Dælla er færa konum dagverð til dyngju en ausa Elliða á úrigri báru.
Then there was tumult around the mast, when the sea roared over me; I had to work alone [as if] with eight on board. It is more pleasant to bring women breakfast in their quarters than to bale out Elliði on a spray-drenched wave.
[1] svarf: snæfrt papp17ˣ, 109a IIˣ, 1006ˣ, 173ˣ
[1] svarf ‘tumult’: The basic sense of this word is ‘file dust’, but, by extension, it seems to refer here to the tumult caused by sea-spray beating against the ship’s mast; cf. Bjarni Frag 2/4III and Note there. The B recension mss have snæfrt, n. sg. of the adj. snæfr ‘narrow, tight, tough’.