--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "AThompson" <athompso@...> wrote:

>
> [...] It seems that the text of the flokkr you are quoting is

slightly different to the text that was originally posted by Michiel.
Is that because you know it to be a ‘better’ text?

No, I just grabbed it from another online version with a slightly
different style of normalisation [
http://www.snerpa.is/net/isl/bergb.htm ]. The differences, in this
strophe at least, aren't significant; that is, they don't affect the
meaning and may be editorial choices. The version Michiel posted just
uses a more archaic norm for the verse, with 'þás' rather than 'þá er'
"when", and 'of' rather than 'um' "over, across, above". There are two
other normalised versions here which might be worth comparing [
http://www3.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/berg.html ]. In these, there is
a significant difference; in the first strophe, one has 'gramr um
bratta hamra' (steep cliffs), the other 'gramr of døkkva hamra' (dark
cliffs).

> Gnýr, þás gengr enn hári gramr of dökkva hamra.
> (It) roars, when treads yet (the) hoary king over (the) dark crags.

Here 'enn' is another example of an archaism. It's an old spelling of
the free-standing definite article, more often normalised as 'inn' or
'hinn' (hence the weak form of the adjective that follows it).