ÞjóðA Magnfl 2II/2 — ekin ‘the driven’
Út rétt, allvaldr, skjóta
— ekin dúðisk rô — snekkju,
en þrítøgt skip þrautar
þann tíð í haf skríða.
Vægðit vendi sveigðum
veðr ótt of þér, dróttinn;
hlóðu hirðmenn prúðir
húnskript í Sigtúnum.
Allvaldr, rétt skjóta snekkju út, en [rétt] þrítøgt skip skríða þrautar í haf þann tíð; ekin rô dúðisk. Ótt veðr vægðit sveigðum vendi of þér, dróttinn; prúðir hirðmenn hlóðu húnskript í Sigtúnum.
Mighty ruler, you launched [lit. did launch] a warship out, and [made] the thirty-benched ship glide at full stretch over the sea at that time; the driven sailyard shuddered. The raging wind did not spare the swayed mast above you, lord; splendid retainers took down the decorated cloth of the mast-top [SAIL] in Sigtuna (Sigtúnir).
readings
[2] ekin: eikin F, E, ekinn J2ˣ
notes
[2] ekin rô dúðisk ‘the driven sailyard shuddered’: Jesch explains, ‘as it [was] turned to catch the wind’ (2001, 162). Ekin provides a regular resolution of two short syllables, while the variant eikin is metrically inappropriate, and seems to be influenced by the adj. eikinn ‘savage, hostile’, or by the noun eik(i) ‘oak tree(s)’. Finds from the Gokstad ship identified as sailyards are of birch and fir (Jesch 2001a, 162).