ESk Hardr I 2II/1 — Átti ‘had’
Átti sókn við sléttan
serkrjóðr Hôolfs, merki,
harðr, þars hregg of virðum,
Hléseyjar þrǫm, blésu.
Hús brann upp, en eisur,
ófátt, séa knátti
— malmr sǫng, en hlóð hilmir
hrækǫst — við ský gnæfa.
Harðr Hôolfs serkrjóðr átti sókn við sléttan þrǫm Hléseyjar, þars hregg blésu merki of virðum. Ófátt hús brann upp, en knátti séa eisur gnæfa við ský; malmr sǫng, en hilmir hlóð hrækǫst.
The harsh colourer of Hálfr’s <legendary king’s> shirt [(lit. ‘shirt-colourer of Hálfr’) BYRNIE > WARRIOR] had a battle by the level shore of Læsø, where the storms made banners billow above the men. Not a few houses burned up, and one could see fires towering against the clouds; steel sang, and the prince stacked up a corpse-pile.
readings
[1] Átti: ttuð all others
notes
[1] átti (3rd per. sg. pret. indic.) ‘had’: The variant ttuð (2nd pers. pl. pret. indic.) ‘you had’ (so all other mss), which has been adopted by most earlier eds, requires the subject to be treated as a form of address (see Note to st. 1/1).
grammar
Verbs: Preterite-present verbs
The present tense of these verbs is like the past tense of strong verbs, and their past tense is weak.
| eiga | mega | kunna | skulu | munu | muna | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indic. pres. | sing. pl. | 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd | á átt á eigum eiguð eigu | má mátt má megum meguð megu | kann kannt kann kunnum kunnuð kunnu | skal skalt skal skulum skuluð skulu | mun munt mun munum munuð munu | man mant man munum munið muna |
| indic. past stem subj. pres. stem subj. past stem | átt- eig- ætt- | mátt- meg- mætt- | kunn- kunn- kynn- | skyld- skyl- skyld- | mund- myn- mynd- | mund- mun- mynd- | ||