Ungr skyldi þat ǫldu
eyktemjandi fremja,
gífrs es gǫmlum hœfir
gunntjalds boða at halda.
Trauð verðr hǫnd, en hlýða
hrynvengis má engum
Gaut, nema gǫr verk bœti,
grundar mens, af venju.
Ungr eyktemjandi ǫldu skyldi fremja þat es hœfir gǫmlum boða gífrs gunntjalds at halda. Hǫnd verðr trauð, en engum Gaut hrynvengis mens grundar má hlýða, nema bœti verk gǫr af venju.
A young tamer of the horse of the wave [(lit. ‘horse-tamer of the wave’) SHIP > SEAFARER] should do what it befits an old messenger of the troll-wife of the battle-tent [SHIELD > AXE > WARRIOR] to keep doing. The hand becomes unwilling, but no Gautr <= Óðinn> of the ringing-land of the necklace of the earth [= Miðgarðsormr > GOLD > MAN] may be saved, unless he makes reparation for deeds done out of habit.
[1-2] eyktemjandi ǫldu ‘tamer of the horse of the wave [SHIP > SEAFARER]’: A similar conceit informs the ship-kenning loptbyggvir eykja unnar ‘raised deck-dweller of the horses of the wave’ in a helmingr preserved in ÓH, attributed there to Sigvatr Þórðarson and believed to be from an otherwise lost Óláfsdrápa (Sigv ÓldrI; cf. Hkr ÍF 27, 73 and 74n).