Ljótu dreif á lypting útan
lauðri — bifðisk goll it rauða —
— fastligr hneigði fúru geystri
fýris garmr — ok skeiðar stýri.
Stirðum helzt umb Stafangr norðan
stôlum — bifðusk fyrir álar —
— uppi glóðu élmars typpi
eldi glík — í Danaveldi.
Ljótu lauðri dreif útan á lypting ok stýri skeiðar; it rauða goll bifðisk; fastligr garmr fýris hneigði geystri fúru. Helzt stirðum stôlum norðan umb Stafangr í Danaveldi; álar bifðusk fyrir; typpi élmars glóðu uppi glík eldi.
Foul surf surged in against the after-deck and the helm of the warship; the red gold shuddered; the powerful hound of the fir-tree [WIND] pitched the rushing ship of fir. You steered sturdy prows from the north past Stavanger to the realm of the Danes; currents shuddered in front; the mast-heads of the storm-steed [SHIP] glowed aloft like fire.
[4] ok: so E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Flat, um Kˣ, 39, F
[4] ok ‘and’: (a) The reading ok (so E, J2ˣ, H, Hr, Flat) gives good sense, linking lypting ‘after-deck’ (l. 1) with stýri skeiðar ‘warship’s helm’ (l. 4), also in the stern, so that the two complete the cl. ljótu lauðri dreif á ‘foul surf surged against’. Ok stýri skeiðar could be alternatively taken with it rauða goll bifðisk ‘the red gold shuddered’ (l. 2), but ‘helm’ and ‘gold’ are a rather ill-assorted pair. (b) The variant um stýri skeiðar (so Kˣ, 39, F) would also work: ljótu lauðri dreif útan á lypting um stýri skeiðar ‘foul surf surged in against the after-deck around the helm of the warship’. (c) It is also conceivable that stýri skeiðar is acc. sg. of a kenning referring to Magnús as seafarer (so Fms 12, 131). ‘Agent noun’ kennings with stýrir as base-word and ‘ship’ as determinant are recorded: see LP: stýrir.