Stúfr Stúfdr 5II/1 — at ‘according’
Autt varð Falstr at fréttum;
fekk drótt mikinn ótta;
gœddr vas hrafn, en hræddir
hvert ár Danir vôru.
Falstr varð autt at fréttum; drótt fekk mikinn ótta; hrafn vas gœddr, en Danir vôru hræddir hvert ár.
Falster was laid waste, according to reports; people were overcome with great fear; the raven was fattened, and the Danes were frightened every year.
notes
[1] at fréttum ‘according to reports’: Skj B connects this prepositional phrase with the next cl.: drótt fekk mikinn ótta at fréttum (translated as ved efterretningen blev folk meget forskrækkede ‘at the news people became very frightened’). That interpretation creates an awkward syntax (see NN §881). Stúfr was blind or of weak eyesight, and he must have relied on eyewitness accounts of the events in Haraldr’s life that he commemorated in his drápa.