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).
[7] hlóðu ‘took down’: In what seems an abrupt end to the journey, the warriors take down the sail. Whether the normal sense of hlaða, ‘pile’, means here that the sail was taken off the yard and folded on the deck or merely that it was furled around the yard is not clear (cf. Falk 1912, 62; Jesch 2001a, 178). That the sail is not taken down but reefed is suggested by Finnur’s translation rebede (Hkr 1893-1901, IV and Skj B), but this is rejected as a land-lubberly (landkrabbebetonade) explanation by Kock (NN §3228, Anm).