Varð framgengt,
þars Fróði bjó,
feigðarorð,
es at Fjǫlni kom.
Ok sikling
svigðis geira
vágr vindlauss
of viða skyldi.
Feigðarorð, es kom at Fjǫlni, varð framgengt, þars Fróði bjó. Ok vindlauss vágr geira svigðis skyldi of viða sikling.
The word of doom that fell upon Fjǫlnir was fulfilled where Fróði lived. And the windless wave of the spears of the bull [HORNS > BEER] was to destroy the prince.
[8] of (‘um’): so all others, ‘[…]’ Kˣ
[8] of viða ‘destroy’: Of is the expletive particle. As for viða, an inf. verb is indicated by the context, especially skyldi ‘was to’, and by numerous parallels in the poem, beginning with st. 3/6 of troða skyldi ‘had to trample’. The verb viða appears only in Yt, Brot 5/8 and Guðr II 30/6. Finnur Jónsson (Hkr 1893-1901, IV) thought it derived from the prep. við and meant ‘to move toward’, taking a dat. object. Noreen (1912a, 2-3) argued that viða was normally construed with an acc. object, but this is doubtful. Stanza 16/2 has dat. fjǫrvi ‘life’, while vígmiðlung ‘battle-dealer [WARRIOR]’ in st. 26/13 and sikling in the present stanza might be endingless datives such as occur occasionally in older sources (cf. ANG §358.3).