ÞjóðA Magn 7II/6 — fljóðs ‘woman’
Menn eigu þess minnask
manna Sveins at kanna,
víga Freyr, sízt vôru,
vef-Gefn, þríar stefnur.
Vôn es fagrs á Fjóni
fljóðs; dugir vôpn at rjóða;
verum með fylkðu folki
framm í vápna glammi.
Menn eigu minnask þess, Freyr víga, at kanna vef-Gefn manna Sveins, sízt vôru þríar stefnur. Vôn es fagrs fljóðs á Fjóni; dugir at rjóða vôpn; verum með fylkðu folki framm í glammi vápna.
Men have to remember, Freyr <god> of battles [WARRIOR], to get to know the weaving-Gefn <= Freyja> [WOMAN] of Sveinn’s men, since there were three encounters. There’s prospect of a lovely woman on Fyn; it’s good to redden weapons; let’s take our place with the ranked troop, forward in the tumult of weapons [BATTLE].
readings
[6] fljóðs: so H, Hr, fljóð Kˣ, 39, F
notes
[5, 6] fagrs fljóðs ‘of a lovely woman’: (a) There seems little doubt that these two words form a gen. sg. phrase governed by vn ‘prospect, expectation’, though H alone has the correct reading and not the Hkr mss. If indeed this is correct, the st. presents a rare and (if rape is a possibility here) sinister glimpse of the effect of Viking victories on the female members of the vanquished population (cf. Valg Har 9). (b) Hkr 1991, 592-3 prints the Hkr reading fljóð, reading Von er fagrs á Fjóni, fljóð ‘There is prospect of a good thing on Fyn, lady’.