Sigv Víkv 6I/1 — sókn ‘battle’
Rétts, at sókn in sétta,
(snarr þengill bauð Englum
at) þars Ôleifr sótti
(Yggs) Lundúna bryggjur.
Sverð bitu vǫlsk, en vǫrðu
víkingar þar díki;
átti sumt í sléttu
Súðvirki lið búðir.
Rétts, at in sétta sókn, þars Ôleifr sótti bryggjur Lundúna; snarr þengill bauð Englum at Yggs. Vǫlsk sverð bitu, en víkingar vǫrðu þar díki; sumt lið átti búðir í sléttu Súðvirki.
It is correct that the sixth battle [took place] where Óláfr attacked the wharves of London; the valiant prince offered the English the strife of Yggr <= Óðinn> [BATTLE]. Frankish swords bit, and vikings defended the ditch there; some of the troop had huts in level Southwark.
notes
[1] rétts, at in sétta sókn ‘it is correct that the sixth battle [took place]’: (a) The subject sókn ‘battle’ lacks a verb and a verb meaning ‘took place’ or ‘was’ appears to be implied; cf. Anon Ól 1/8 for a parallel. (b) Skj B supplies the verb vas ‘was’ by emendation. (c) Kock prefers the reading Rétt varð to the alternative of assuming an understood verb, and interprets rétt as p. p. of rétta ‘to stretch out, hand over, offer’, rather than an adj., hence ‘(battle) was offered’. However, this variant is found only in C-class mss of ÓH, added to which rétta in this meaning is not common in the skaldic corpus, and never occurs in collocation with a battle-word, despite the frequency with which skalds have need of an expression meaning ‘to give battle’.