Sigv Lv 28I/8 — skript ‘a document’
Heim sóttir þú hættinn
hǫnd, en vel mátt lǫndum
— þinn stoðak môtt — sem mǫnnum,
Magnús konungr, fagna.
Fœrak víst, þvít vôrum
varðr at þér, í Garða;
skrifnask skírinafna
skript, þjóðkonungr, niptar.
Hættinn sóttir þú heim hǫnd, Magnús konungr, en mátt fagna vel lǫndum sem mǫnnum; stoðak môtt þinn. Víst fœrak í Garða, þvít vôrum varðr at þér; skript niptar skrifnask skírinafna, þjóðkonungr.
Bold, you came back home, King Magnús, and you can be most glad of [your] lands as well as [your] people; I support your power. Certainly, I would have travelled to Russia, since we were [I was] closely connected to you; a document of [your] kinswoman is written to [my] godson, great king.
notes
[8] skript ‘a document’: It is unknown what document is referred to here. It is usually assumed (e.g. in ÍF 28) to be a letter from Ástríðr to Magnús in Russia, resulting in his return to Sweden. In Hkr 1991 it is tentatively suggested that the document is Ástríðr’s written affirmation of Magnús’s right to the throne. Björn Magnússon Ólsen (1913, 57-8) would make skript the direct object of fœrðak ‘I brought’ in l. 4, emended from fœrak. Kock (NN §§681, 1879) discerns instead a reference to Sigvatr’s penitential pilgrimage to Rome (cf. Lv 23), on the basis of perceived parallels in early English. Finnur Jónsson makes no attempt to translate ll. 7-8 in Skj B, though he had made tentative suggestions in Hkr 1893-1901, IV.