Lætka Lundar ekkjur
(læbaugs) at því hlæja
(skjótum eik fyr útan
ey) né danskar meyjar,
Jǫrð, at eigi þørðak,
ifla flausts, í hausti
á flatslóðir Fróða
fara aptr Vali krapta.
Lætka ekkjur Lundar né danskar meyjar hlæja at því — skjótum eik læbaugs fyr útan ey —, Jǫrð flausts ifla, at eigi þørðak í hausti fara Vali krapta aptr á flatslóðir Fróða.
I will not let the widows of Lund nor Danish maidens laugh about this — we speed the oak of the deceit-ring [SEA > SHIP] beyond the island —, Jǫrð <goddess> of the ship of the hawk [ARM > WOMAN], that I did not dare in the autumn to travel in the Valr <horse> of the bollard [SHIP] back over the level tracks of Fróði <sea-king> [SEA].
[6] ifla: ‘Jfa laust’ Tóm
[5, 6] Jǫrð flausts ifla ‘Jǫrð <goddess> of the ship of the hawk [ARM > WOMAN]’: This arm-kenning is an unusual variant on the pattern ‘land of the hawk’, i.e. place where trained birds perch. Sturl Hákkv 33/2II contains the later example ferja hauka ‘ferry of hawks’, and cf. Meissner 142. Ifla could be gen. sg. of ifli m. ‘hawk’, as assumed here, or possibly gen. pl. The enclosing woman-kenning seems to be an apostrophe, though no medieval source provides an interlocutor. Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV) pictured Hárekr addressing the stanza to his wife on return to Þjótta.