Skjǫldungr rak með skildi
skeiðar brand ór landi;
réð sá konungr síðan
snjallr Nóregi ǫllum.
Skjǫldungr rak með skildi brand skeiðar ór landi; síðan réð sá snjallr konungr ǫllum Nóregi.
The monarch drove, with his shield, the prow of the warship out of the country; afterwards that excellent king governed all Norway.
[2] brand skeiðar ‘the prow of the warship’: Ágr identifies Skeiðar-Brandr as a pers. n., and this cannot be ruled out. However, it has usually been seen as a misunderstanding, and brand skeiðar is more likely to be a noun phrase meaning ‘decorative piece of wood on the side of the prow of a warship’, hence ‘(enemy’s) ship’ by synecdoche: cf. Arn Hryn 7/4II, and see Skj B, LP: skeiðarbrandr, Turville-Petre (1953, 173), von See (1977b, 64) and Frank (1978, 159); cf. also Jesch (2001a, 147-8) on brandr and Note to ÞjóðA Magnfl 12/7II on skeiðr.