Ólítit brestr úti
unndýrs sumum runnum
hart á Hamðis skyrtum
hryngráp Egils vápna.
Þaðan verða fǫt fyrða
— fregnk gǫrla þat — Sǫrla
rjóðask bjǫrt í blóði
benfúr méilskúrum.
Ólítit hryngráp vápna Egils brestr hart á skyrtum Hamðis sumum runnum unndýrs úti. Þaðan verða bjǫrt fǫt Sǫrla rjóðask í blóði fyrða benfúr méilskúrum; fregnk þat gǫrla.
Not a little ringing hail of Egill’s <legendary archer’s> weapons [BOWS > ARROWS] crashes hard against Hamðir’s <legendary hero’s> shirts [MAIL-SHIRTS] of some bushes of the wave-beast [SHIP > SEAFARERS] out at sea. As a result the bright garments of Sǫrli <legendary hero> [MAIL-SHIRTS] must be reddened in the blood of men by wound-fire [SWORD] in missile-showers [BATTLE]; I learn clearly of that.
[8] méilskúrum ‘in missile-showers [BATTLE]’: Méil- is only otherwise attested in the cpd méilregni ‘with missile-rain’, Eskál Vell 10/4I, where it must be disyllabic. Reichardt (1928, 60; cf. ÍF 26, 211 n.) asserts that méil- is identical to monosyllabic mél ‘bit [of a bridle]’, and argues that méil- may be either disyllabic or, as here, monosyllabic (cf. C’s ‘mell’). This renders metrical C’s text of l. 8, benfúr fyr méilskúrum, which is the basis of Reichardt’s interpretation of the half-stanza (see Note to ll. 5-8 above). But the exact meaning and etymology of méil- are unclear (Kristensen 1907, 235-40; AEW: méilregn; ÍO: méil-), and Hallfreðr’s self-conscious imitation of Eskál Vell makes it improbable that méil- should be monosyllabic here when it is disyllabic in the same metrical position in Vell 10/4I.