‘Munk’, kvað vǫrðr, ‘í virða’,
vallræfrs, ‘liðu alla
— stríð þjá drótt til dauða
drjúghvasst — eldum kasta,
ef vegrunnar vinna
varrelgs daga helga
elds eða eigi gjalda
allþétt tíund rétta.’
Vǫrðr vallræfrs kvað: ‘Munk kasta eldum í alla liðu virða — stríð þjá drjúghvasst drótt til dauða —, ef varrelgs veg- elds -runnar vinna allþétt helga daga eða gjalda eigi rétta tíund’.
The warden of the plain-roof [SKY/HEAVEN > = God] said: ‘I will cast fires into all the limbs of men — afflictions will plague mankind severely unto death — if the trees of the fire of the way of the wake-elk [(lit. ‘way-trees of the fire of the wake-elk’) SHIP > SEA > GOLD > MEN] work very energetically on holy days or do not pay the correct tithe’.
[7] elds: so 624, ‘[...]ll[...]z’ B
[5, 6, 7] vegrunnar elds varrelgs ‘way-trees of the fire of the wake-elk [SHIP > SEA > GOLD > SEAFARERS]’: Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1844, 60) follows 624’s and 399a-bˣ’s readings to give varðelg ‘guardian-elk’, but B reads ‘vareelgs’, though it is possible that the first <e> is meant to be a <d> (cf. Rydberg 1907, 5 n. 14). Skj B and Kock emend to varrelg, compounding elgr ‘elk’ with the poetic word vǫrr ‘wake of a ship’. Although varrelgr is not otherwise attested, elgr is often used in kennings for ships (LP: elgr). Vegr varrelgs ‘way of the wake-elk’ i.e. ‘way of the ship’ makes for an acceptable sea-kenning.
case: gen.