Nú hefr sér
til sess hagat
þjóðkonungr
í Þrándheimi.
Þar vill æ
ævi sína
bauga brjótr
byggðum ráða.
Nú hefr þjóðkonungr hagat sér til sess í Þrándheimi. Þar vill brjótr bauga ráða byggðum æ ævi sína.
Now the great king [= Sveinn] has arranged himself on the throne in Trøndelag. There the breaker of rings [GENEROUS MAN] will rule the settlements always throughout his life.
[3] þjóðkonungr ‘the great king’: Cognate with OE þēodcyning (e.g. Beowulf l. 2 þēodcyninga, Beowulf 2008, 3). As in OE, the first element may mean ‘people’, but could also simply be an intensifying prefix. Þjóðkonungr may seem rather a grand title to apply to the youthful Sveinn, but the phrase Sveinn konungr in Sigv Tryggfl 1/3 and Anon Sveinfl 1/5 confirms that he was indeed recognised as king of Norway, and not simply as regent or governor on behalf of his father Knútr.