2. dáðrakkr Þórr - the awkward three-syllable line can be avoided by assuming the older form Þóarr (from Þonarr). Cp. Þórsdrápa 2 (gammleið Þóarr skömmum).

3. eitrfán "poison-glittering, gleaming with venom". Eitr is a double-edged word, which means both "poison, venom" and "freezing cold", and is used to great effect elsewhere (see especially my commentary on Þórsdrápa 5: þjóðáar fnæstu eitri = "mighty streams spewed poison")..

6. háfjall skarar "summit of the hair" - a head-kenning. Skör "hair" is properly "hair cut in a straight line around the head", and is strictly used of men's hair, never women's. Such a kenning must be seen as ludicrous (or hilarious) when used of the head of the Midgard serpent. Cp. hátún horna tveggja "high abode of two horns", a kenning for the bull's head in stanza 19.

8. úlfs hnitbróðir "blood-brother of the wolf" - or so it has been generally accepted. However, the meaning of hnit- is far from certain here, and to tell the truth it is to be doubted that hnitbróðir actually ever meant "brother by birth". The word hnit is found in a handful of kennings, where it apparently means "collision", and in at least one case "battle":

     hnit fleina "collision of shafts" (battle)
     hnit hjörva "collision of swords" (battle)
     hnit hringa "collision of swords" (battle)
     hnit-veggr "battle-wall" (shield)

Hnit-bróðir can thus mean "battle-brother, battle-companion" (see ÁBM), i. e. one who fights by another's side. The Great Worm is the Great Wolf's "battle-brother", - they fight together side by side against Óðinn and Þórr in the final battle; see Gylfaginning 51: "The Midgard serpent will spit so much poison that it will bespatter all the sky and sea, and it will be very terrible, and it will be on one side of the wolf" (Faulkes' translation).

However that may be, there is hardly any doubt that the Wolf and the Serpent were brothers. Loki is named "father of the wolf" in Lokasenna 10, and "father of the ocean-thread" in Þórsdrápa 1. Cp. also Gylfaginning 34, and Hyndluljóð 40 (Völuspá in skamma 12).

Translation notes: The simple phrase upp at borði is perfectly understood by the "old" translators: "up to the side" (Thorpe), "to the side" (Bray), "up to the boat" (Bellows); but mistranslated by the rest: "on board the boat" (Hollander), "right into the skiff" (Terry), "up on board" (Larrington). One can't help but wondering if this is a sign of the times, and the similar treatment of eitrfán "venom-gleaming" suggests that it is: "with venom glistening" (Thorpe), "poison-glistening" (Bray), "venomous" (Bellows); while there is no venom at all to be found in the "new" translators' versions: "baneful" (Hollander), "vile" (Terry), "gleaming" (Larrington). Ofljótt "very ugly" is taken by Larrington with hnitbróður instead of háfjall ("the head ... of the wolf's hideous brother"). This is, of course, grammatically absurd - the adjective is neuter, not masculine. Hollander's rendering of the last two lines is typically far from the original: "of greedy Garm's grisly brother". The identification of Fenrir and Garm is rather puzzling, considering that elsewhere Hollander sees Garm as Fenrir's offspring (see footnote to his translation of Völuspá 39).