Prose Edda — Old Norse facing a living language
Gangleri mælti: "Hvat var upphaf eða hversu hófst, eða hvat var áðr?" Hárr svarar: "Svá sem segir í Völuspá: 5. Ár var alda, þat er ekki var, var-a sandr né sær né svalar unnir; jörð fannsk eigi né upphiminn, gap var Ginnunga, en gras ekki."
Gangleri said: "What was the beginning — how did it start, and what came before?" High answered: "As it says in Voluspa: It was early in time, / when nothing was: / no sand, no sea, / no cold waves; / earth was nowhere, / no sky above — / a yawning gap, / and no grass at all.
Þá mælti Jafnhárr: "Fyrr var þat mörgum öldum en jörð var sköpuð er Niflheimr var gerr, ok í honum miðjum liggr bruðr sá, er Hvergelmir heitir, ok þaðan af falla þær ár, er svá heita: Svöl, Gunnþrá, Fjörm, Fimbulþul, Slíðr ok Hríð, Sylgr ok Ylgr, Víð, Leiftr. Gjöll er næst Helgrindum." Þá mælti Þriði: "Fyrst var þó sá heimr í suðrhálfu, er Múspell heitir. Hann er ljóss ok heitr.
Then Just-as-High said: "Niflheim was made many ages before the earth was shaped, and in its middle lies the spring called Hvergelmir, and from it flow the rivers named Svol, Gunnthra, Fjorm, Fimbulthul, Slidr and Hrid, Sylg and Ylg, Vid, Leiftr. Gjoll runs nearest the gates of Hel." Then Third said: "But first of all there was the world in the south, called Muspell. It is bright and hot, that region — blazing and burning, and closed to any who are foreign there and hold no land in it.
Sú átt er logandi ok brennandi. Er hann ok ófærr þeim, er þar eru útlendir ok eigi eigu þar óðul. Sá er Surtr nefndr, er þar sitr á landsenda til landvarnar. Hann hefir loganda sverð, ok í enda veraldar mun hann fara ok herja ok sigra öll goðin ok brenna allan heim með eldi. Svá segir í Völuspá: 6.
The one who sits at its border to guard it is called Surt. He carries a flaming sword, and at the end of the world he will ride out to make war, defeat all the gods, and burn the whole world with fire. So it says in Voluspa: Surt comes from the south / with the bane of branches, fire that scorches; / his sword shines / like the sun of the slaughter-gods.
Surtr ferr sunnan með sviga lævi, skínn af sverði sól valtíva; grjótbjörg gnata, en gífr rata, troða halir helveg, en himinn klofnar."
/ The cliffs of stone crash down, / giant-women stumble, / men tread the road to Hel, / and the sky splits open."