> I suppose you're starting to think that there's
> only one tune in this flute and you may be right

Actually I was starting to think there was only one tune in my
flute, because in the first version I noticed I was reusing some
obvious rhymes from earlier.



'frost Mistar' is glossed here as "icy wind of Mist" [battle]

http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/weather.html



fjöld linkinna linna "a multitude of mercies of serpents" [many
summers] -- but yeah, I overdid that alliteration again didn't I.
Maybe there's something we could replace 'lin-' with. Or if the
rhyme is less sacrosanct: fjöld miskunna linna?



I'd been reading a pamphlet by Anthony Faulkes called "Poetical
Inspiration in Old Norse and Old English Poetry", which is actually
mainly about Old Norse, and it mentioned 'refhvörf': "words of
opposite meanings are juxtaposed though they do not always have
those opposite meanings in the verse as a whole."


'Humra' is more specifically the River Humber in England, but as you
guessed here used as a general heiti for "river".


"Lightbulb", well yes, afraid so, but put to a completely
traditional use, isn´t it? I slipped in one other modern word
later, but I think it was worth it. On the other hand, I think I
might have found an old word for "miners" in Cleasby-
Vigfusson: 'grafarmenn'. But maybe they didn't want to use this on
Age of Mythology because they don't go underground there. Zoega
has 'grjótberg' "quarry". Fritzner has:

grjótsveinn, m. underordnet Stenarbeider;
Þorkell grjótsveinn DN. IV, 1814. 459.

Cleasby-Vigfusson:
grjotsveinn, m. a stonemason's lad

In other words, someone who works for a grjótsmiðr. Would
such "lads" would also cut stones in a quarry and bring them to the
mason?

> "Hví ortir þú flokk um konunginn eða þótti
> þér hann ei drápunnar verður?" - Gunnlaugs saga

Yes, that´s exactly the line I was thinking of: I didn´t want to get
accused of serving up second best, and thus limit my chances of gold
and silver! Luckily I also have an alternative refrain that appears
only once at the moment. But it has more modest alliteration, so
maybe that could be used every time:

Reynt´s hjarta rann innan
rifja Ellisifjar.

"Rann hjarta er reynt innan rifja Ellisifja."

> a victory over the unwise.

I mean "undear". Can 'ósváss' also mean "unwise"? Or were you
thinking of 'ósvinnr'? Apart from that, and the initial kenning-
konfusion, your interpretation was exactly what I had in mind.

Llama Nom

> > Frost hón framdi Mistar
> > fjöld linkinna linna.
> > Vargar váru margir.
> > Vá sigr á ósvásum
> > ljósaperu óss ljóssar,
> > lág, þrumandi Humru.
> > Rind reistu mót röndum,
> > rifjungs, Ellisifjar.