Vôn erumk vísa kœnum
vígs á Rakna stígu,
ǫrr í odda snerru
Innþrœnda lið finni.
Þó má enn, hvárr annan
ǫndu nemr eða lǫndum,
— lítt hyggr Sveinn á sáttir
sjaldfestar — goð valda.
Erumk vôn vígs kœnum vísa á stígu Rakna, ǫrr finni lið Innþrœnda í snerru odda. Þó má goð enn valda, hvárr nemr annan ǫndu eða lǫndum; Sveinn hyggr lítt á sjaldfestar sáttir.
I believe there is an expectation of battle for the wise ruler on Rakni’s <sea-king’s> paths [SEA], [and that] the brave one will meet the host of Innþrœndir in the onslaught of spear-points [BATTLE]. Yet God can decide again which one will deprive the other of life or lands; Sveinn cares little for shaky agreements.
[2] stígu: stígum E
[2] stígu (m. acc. pl.) ‘paths’: Because there is no overt motion involved, we should have expected the prep. á ‘on’ to take the dat. here. Skj B and Skald accordingly adopt the E variant stígum (m. dat. pl.) ‘paths’. However, all other mss have the acc., and it is possible that a verb of motion is implied (‘as he sets off to sea’: cf. st. 3/3 below).
case: acc.
number: pl.