[1]: This line opens the poem’s klofastef ‘split refrain’, which is completed by st. 6/8 and repeats at st. 7/1; st. 6/8 repeats at sts 9/8 and 11/8. The complete refrain reads Knútr vas und himnum | hǫfuðfremstr jǫfurr, i.e. Knútr vas hǫfuðfremstr jǫfurr und himnum ‘Knútr was the most eminent prince under the heavens’.