Fylgðak Frísa dolgi,
(fekk ungr) þars spjǫr sungu,
— nú fiðr ǫld, at eldumk —
(aldrbót) ok Sigvalda,
þás til móts við mœti
malmþings í dyn hjalma
sunnr fyr Svǫlðrar mynni
sárlauk roðinn bôrum.
Fylgðak dolgi Frísa ok Sigvalda, þars spjǫr sungu; fekk ungr aldrbót – nú fiðr ǫld at eldumk –, þás bôrum roðinn sárlauk í dyn hjalma til móts við mœti malmþings sunnr fyr mynni Svǫlðrar.
I followed the Frisians’ enemy [= Eiríkr] and Sigvaldi, where spears sang; I got renown young – now people find I grow old –, when we [I] bore the reddened wound-leek [SWORD] into the din of helmets [BATTLE] against the meeter of the metal-assembly [BATTLE > WARRIOR] south before the mouth of Svolder.
[4] ‑bót: so 310, FskBˣ, FskAˣ, Kˣ, F, J2ˣ, 61, 53, 54, Bb, 325VIII 2 b, Flat, ‘bott’ Holm18, J1ˣ, ‘[…]’ 325VIII 1
[4] aldrbót ‘renown’: Lit. ‘life-betterment’, i.e. that which makes the duration of one’s life (aldr in its usual sense of ‘lifespan’) worth living through. The only other skaldic instance of aldrbót (translated as ‘solace, life-reward’) is Anon (TGT) 15/2, where ‘fame’ would fit as well as ‘joy’, the translation of Finnur Jónsson and Meissner (Skj BI, 601 fryd ‘joy’; Meissner 436 Freude ‘joy’).