I was just reading the rune poem on "Maðr" this morning, and started wondering about the exact meaning of "skreytir":
Old Icelandic:
(Maðr) er manns gaman ok moldar auki
ok skipa skreytir.
homo. mildingr.
English Translation (I believe this is Edred Thorsson's):
(Man) is the joy of man and the increase of dust
and the adornment of ships.
Human. Generous one.
Now, "adornment" or decoration seems to go in Zoega with
skreyta = to ornament, adorn, dress fine, and
skreyting f. = embellishment
I suppose it means that when men are on the ships, rowing or standing by their shields on the sides of the ship, they make it beautiful.
I wonder what other words this is related to, and where it comes from. Sometimes Zoega translates "backwards", that is, he gives the meaning that makes sense in this context in English, but he is not really sure what the Old Norse word literally meant. He is not very detailed in many cases.