Heyra skalt, hvé herskjǫld bôruð,
hilmis kundr, til Venða grundar
— heppinn drótt af hlunni sléttum
hélug bǫrð — í stefjaméli.
Aldri frák, en, vísi, valdið
Venða sorg, at dǫglingr spenði
— flaustum varð þá flóð of ristit —
fleiri skip til óðals þeira.
Kundr hilmis, skalt heyra í stefjaméli, hvé bôruð herskjǫld til grundar Venða; drótt, heppinn, hélug bǫrð af sléttum hlunni. Aldri frák, at dǫglingr spenði fleiri skip til óðals þeira, en, vísi, valdið sorg Venða; þá varð flóð of ristit flaustum.
Ruler’s kinsman, you shall hear in a refrain-section how you carried the war-shield to the land of the Wends; you dragged, fortunate, rime-spread prows from the smooth launcher. Never have I heard that a sovereign steered more ships against their patrimony, and, prince, you cause grief for the Wends; then the flood was carved by ships.
[6] Venða (m. gen. pl.) ‘for the Wends’: Magnús’s expedition against this pagan Slavic people was designed to curb their westward incursions on the coasts of north Germany and Denmark. On the Wends, see Damgaard-Sørensen 1991. The form of the name is difficult to establish. Early (non-Norse) evidence would point to an alternation of [e] and [i] as root vowel (see AEW: Vindr 2). Arnórr’s rhyme on spenði ‘steered’ (l. 6) suggests [e] here, but several other skaldic rhymes, such as that on ginðu ‘gaped, yawned’ in Hókr Eirfl 7/2I, suggest [i].