Vísi tekr víg-Freys
víst austr munlaust
(aldar hefr allvaldr)
óskvíf (gótt líf).
Vísi tekr víst munlaust óskvíf víg-Freys austr; allvaldr aldar hefr gótt líf.
The ruler takes for certain the loveless chosen wife of the battle-Freyr <god> [= Óðinn > = Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)] in the east; the mighty ruler of men leads a good life.
[2] austr ‘in the east’: Although austr can also refer to the Baltic, Russia, or even Byzantium, in skaldic verse Sweden remains the most common meaning (see e.g. Sigv AustvI, and see further Jesch 2001a, 89-90). The use of austr must cast doubt on Faulkes’s suggestion (SnE 1998, I, 219) that the stanza represents an incitement to invade Norway.