Setbergs kveða sitja
sunnr at Urðar brunni;
svá hefr ramr konungr remðan
Róms banda sik lǫndum.
Kveða sitja setbergs sunnr at brunni Urðar; svá hefr ramr konungr Róms remðan sik lǫndum banda.
They say that [he, Christ] sits on a seat-shaped crag in the south at the well of Urðr <norn>; thus the strong king of Rome [CHRIST] has strengthened himself in the lands of the gods.
[4] Róms: ‘Róm’ 2368ˣ
[3, 4] konungr Róms ‘king of Rome [CHRIST]’: Meissner (Meissner 369) places this among the oldest kennings for the Christian god, a group for which geographical determinants are characteristic (see Meissner 378), as in gætir Gríklands ‘the guardian of Greece [= God]’ in Þloft Hfl 1/1-2I or gramr Jórðánar ‘the prince of the Jordan [CHRIST]’ in Sigv ErfÓl 28/2I. It was possible to refer to Christ as the ruler of Rome because the pope, the Christian god’s earthly representative, resided there.