Lýtr fyr lǫngum spjótum
landsfolk; bifask randir;
kveðr oddviti oddum
Eyvindar lið skreyju.
Landsfolk lýtr fyr lǫngum spjótum; randir bifask; oddviti kveðr lið Eyvindar skreyju oddum.
The land-army sinks before the long spears; shields tremble; the leader [Hákon] greets the following of Eyvindr skreyja (‘Wretch’) with spear-points.
[1, 3] lýtr; kveðr ‘sinks; greets’: If the present lausavísa indeed contains a jest, it might lie in the ironic use of the verbs lúta ‘sink’ (which occasionally means ‘bow, submit’ as in fealty, e.g. GunnlI Aðdr 1/3V (Gunnl 3)) and kveða ‘greet’, evoking courtly ceremony (which some Norwegian rulers and their entourage might have participated in while on embassies to Carolingian and English political centres).