> I am trying to read Ragnarsdrápa. I have found it to be rather difficult
> but what I have been able to read is quite lovely. The eleventh verse is
> the first place I encountered difficulty. Could anyone clarify this part?

If you could read the first ten stanzas of Ragnarsdrápa
without encountering difficulty then it's probably you who
should be giving lessons :) But let's have a look-see.

11.
Auk fyr hönd í holmi
hveðru brynju Viðris
fengeyðandi fljóða
fordæða nam ráða.
Allr gekk herr und hurðir
Hjarranda fram kyrrar
reiðr at Reifnis skeiði
raðalfs af mari bróðum.

I'm guessing this is Kock's version - I don't have
it at hand. Let's look at what Finnur Jónsson has
(takk, EB):

FJ manuscript version:

Oc firir hond iholmi
hveðro bryniv viðris
feng eyþande flioþa
for dæþa nam raþa;
allr geck heR vnd hurþir
hiarranda fram kyrrar
reiðr at reifnis skeiþi
raðalfr of mar braþvm.

FJ received version:

Ok fyr hönd í holmi
hveðru brynju Viðris
fengeyðandi fljóða
fordæða nam ráða;
allr gekk herr und hurðir
Hjarranda framm kyrrar
reiðr af Reifnis skeiði
raðaralfs mari bráðum.

We can see that the two editors are in
complete agreement on the first part.
Indeed the manuscript version seems to
be fairly lucid and in no need of correction.
I'll try to muddle through it.

brynja = armour
hveðra = giantess
hveðra brynju = giantess of armour -> axe
Viðrir = Óðinn
Viðrir hveðru brynju -> Óðinn of the axe -> warrior

So that's "of the warrior" there in line two.
The subject seems to be 'for-dæða fljóða' meaning
something like "a witch of women" or perhaps
"a witch among women".

The most difficult word is probably 'feng-eyðandi'.
Usually 'fengr' means something like "booty" but I'm
not quite sure what's implied here.

Let's try something like a literal translation:

"And by the hand of the Óðinn of the giantess of
the armour the booty-destroying witch among women
ruled in the island."

Or, if we replace the kenning:

"And by the hand of the warrior the booty-destroying
witch among women ruled in the island."

But what does "fyr hönd" (by hand) mean? In the modern
language it means "on behalf of". Looking at Finnur Jónsson's
translation I see that's what it takes it to mean here:

"Og heksen blandt kvinder, sejrhindrersken (?), rådede
på øen på krigerens vegne."

(For the Danish impaired this means something like:
"And the witch among women, the female preventer of victory (?),
ruled on the island on behalf of the warrior.")

This seems to make perfectly good sense.
The "victory-preventing" part is probably
a guess based on later accounts of Hildr
and the gang.

Here is what Faulkes seems to have come up with:

"And on the island,
instead of the Vidrir [warrior]
of the mail-coat's [warrior's] troll-wife [axe],
the victory-preventing witch of a woman had her way."

He accepts Finnur's "victory-preventing" for 'feng-eyðandi'
but seems to understand 'firir hond' as "instead of".
I don't know the argument for that but I'm not saying
it's wrong. Faulkes is someone to reckon with.

- - -

The second half seems much more difficult. Finnur and
Kock propose quite different versions and neither can
apparently hammer sense into the manuscript text.
The text, as preserved, may be corrupt.

Kveðja,
Haukur