Sendi snarlynda
sverða blikskerðir
sveit inn sigrmæti
síð til brynhríðar.
Drap í dul greypa
drengja lof þengils,
drótt sá er dal-Gauta
dæmði hersæmða.
Inn sigrmæti blikskerðir sendi snarlynda sveit sverða síð til brynhríðar. Lof þengils drengja drap í greypa dul, sá er dæmði drótt dal-Gauta hersæmða.
The victory-glorious gleam-diminisher [GENEROUS MAN] finally sent a quick-witted company of swords to the byrnie-storm [BATTLE]. The ruler’s praise of the warriors was gravely misplaced, he who deemed the retinue of the bow-Gautar <= Óðinn’s> [WARRIORS] battle-famed.
[2] blikskerðir ‘gleam-diminisher [GENEROUS MAN]’: So NN §1360. According to this interpretation, blik- ‘gleam-’ is taken to mean ‘gold’ (see also LP: blik 1). Skj B emends bryn- ‘the byrnie-’ (l. 4) to brims ‘of the surf’ and construes the gold-kenning blik brims ‘the gleam of the surf’. Sverða ‘of swords’ (l. 2) is then taken with hríðar ‘of the storm’ (l. 4) (til hríðar sverða ‘to the storm of swords’, i.e. ‘to the battle’). This construction forces a separation of the unstressed prep. til ‘to’ from its object hríðar ‘the storm’ which does not otherwise occur in poetry. A more plausible emendation would be to change blik- to brík-: sverða bríkskerðir ‘the diminisher of the plank of swords’, i.e. ‘the diminisher of the shield’ (‘warrior’).