> Yeah, I was actually thinking: "spots/perceives/sees dying", with an
> accusative + infinitive, but I suppose it's ambiguous isn't it.

But is 'þekkja' ever used in acc. cum inf.
constructions? Sounds odd to me.

Although I suppose it has the advantage of
not assuming the word *sveltr. :)

>> I don't understand "ómundanga mengi". Great host?
>
> I was thinking of the adjectival use of 'mundangs' and 'mundanga',
> and hoping for something that would mean "an extremely great
> number", in apposition with 'skatna...hundmarga'. But maybe it
> doesn't work like this. Shame to lose out on the rhyme, but I'm
> sure I'll find another.

Maybe it does work that way. It just wasn't
familiar to me.

>> Reynt´s rann hjarta innan
> rifja Ellisifjar.
>
> Would this work, metrically?

I guess I'm the kind of messenger people shoot.
No, I don't think that works metrically.
As far as I know you can't put the alliterators
in syllables 1 and 2. Or at least I don't recall
an example of that happening and it sounds weird.

> That's something else I've
> learnt. What I meant by this was a sort of tautology: the house of
> the heart = the heart. Not sure if anything like this occurs in
> Norse, but OE has the idea of the heart as a box or container for
> thoughts. And I was hoping that 'reynt' could signify not
> just "experienced" but in this case "tried and tested (in the thick
> of battle)"--and found to be made of stern stuff. Is that possible?

With 'ranns' instead of 'rann' I would understand.
Emending your text in that way I get this:

"Reynt hjarta er innan ranns rifja Ellisifjar."
- A tried heart is within the house of the ribs of Elizabeth.

> 6.
>
> Haugs molnaði hulning
> Hölga, (hætti) ættar
> Játmundar mær vöndum
> mjök grandaði landi,
> (við Silfrvala sjaldan),
> sára, heið Karls eiða,
> (dylgja), dýr fylgja
> dróttning sú oss þótti.

I'm not sure if the alliterator placement
in line 3 is solid but a more serious problem
is that line 7 only has five syllables!
An occasional 7-syllable line is fine but
5-syllable lines only occur when the historical
development of the language has dropped a syllable
since the stanza was composed.

> (Hún) molnaði hulning haugs Hölga. Mær ættar Játmundar, eiða heið
> Karls, grandaði mjök landi með vöndum sára. Sjaldan hætti dylgja
> við Silfrvala (þat eru Spánvalir ór Silfrlandi). Óss þótti sú
> dróttning dýr fylgja (vera).

She crushed the hiding of the mound of Hölgi.
The maiden of the family of Edmund, the bright
mother of Charles, devastated the land with wands
of wounds [swords]. Seldom did the rumour stop at ?.
We considered that queen to be an expensive placenta.
Uh, strike that. Worthy guardian?

I've never seen 'dylgjur' in singular before.

Obviously I'm at sea here. I don't know where you're
going with the first line (and I don't think 'molna'
can be used as a transitive verb). And I don't know
what's going on in the geography. Something about
Argentina?

I'm sort of waiting for a reference to "Fálkaland". :)

Kveðja,
Haukur