Eigi vildu Jótar
reiða gjald til skeiða,
áðr Styrbjarnar stœði
Strandar dýr á landi.
Nús Danmarkar dróttinn
í drengja lið genginn;
landa vanr ok lýða
lifir ánauðigr auðar.
Jótar vildu eigi reiða gjald til skeiða, áðr dýr Strandar Styrbjarnar stœði á landi. Nús dróttinn Danmarkar genginn í lið drengja; lifir ánauðigr auðar, vanr landa ok lýða.
The Jótar were not willing to pay tribute for ships before the beasts of Strǫnd <river> [SHIPS] of Styrbjǫrn stood by the coast. Now the lord of Denmark [DANISH KING = Haraldr] has joined the troop of warriors; he lives oppressed by fate, deprived of lands and people.
[8] auðar ‘by fate’: (a) This is taken here (as also in Fms 12, Skj B and LP: 4. auðr) to be the rare poetic word auðr ‘fate, death’ (probably f.; so ONP). (b) It is, however, possible that it is simply the more common m. noun auðr ‘wealth’ (cf. LP: 3. auðr), and that auðar forms, with landa and lýða, the last of a triplet governed by vanr, hence ‘deprived of lands, people and wealth’. This would leave ánauðigr alone to mean ‘oppressed’.