Hver er sú dóttir, er um nótt miðja
flanar ok flöktir með fíls hala?
Ólík þykki mér þú öðrum vífum,
eða hvaðan kom Hrauðungs mær?
Hver er sú dóttir, er flanar ok flöktir um miðja nótt með hala fíls? Þú þykki mér ólík öðrum vífum, eða hvaðan kom mær Hrauðungs?
Who is that daughter who flits and flutters about in the middle of the night with an elephant’s tail? You seem to me unlike other women, and where did the girl of Hrauðungr <giant> [GIANTESS] come from?
[3] flanar ok flöktir: ‘flamar og flogtar’ 109a IIIˣ, ‘flaugtir og flanar’ corrected from ‘flaugtar og flamar’ in another hand papp6ˣ, ‘flamar ok floktir’ ÍBR5ˣ
[3] flanar ok flöktir ‘flits and flutters about’: No ms. has exactly these words in precisely this order. The mss’ ‘flamar’, which is not an Old Norse word, has been corrected to flanar ‘flits’ from flana, which is not recorded elsewhere in Old Icelandic but occurs in Modern Icelandic in the sense ‘rush, act rashly’ (ÍO: flana) while the uncommon flǫkta or flǫkða ‘flutter, fly about’ is used particularly of birds and flies (Fritzner: flökta). ModIcel. flökta means ‘wander, flutter, flicker’ (ÍO: flökta).