Knútr verr grund sem gætir
Gríklands himinríki.
Knútr verr grund sem gætir Gríklands himinríki.
Knútr defends the land as the guardian of Greece [= God] [defends] the heavenly kingdom.
[2] Grík‑: Grikk‑ J2ˣ, Tóm, ‘[…]’ Kˣ
[2] Gríklands ‘of Greece’: Probably referring to Byzantium. On the terms Gríkland, lit. ‘Greek-land’, and Gríkir ‘Greeks’ in skaldic verse see Jesch (2001a, 100). For the few early God-kennings involving a geographical determinant, see Meissner 378; Arn Hardr 17/3II vǫrðr Girkja ok Garða ‘guardian of the Greeks and of Garðar’ is the closest parallel. Ms. 61 offers the alternative reading that ‘the guardian of the heavenly kingdom [defends] Greece’.