Þjóð Yt 26I/14 — á ‘in’
Ok niðkvísl
í Nóregi
þróttar Þrós
of þróazk hafði.
Réð Ôleifr
ofsa forðum
víðri grund
of Vestmari,
unz fótverkr
við Foldar þrǫm
vígmiðlung
of viða skyldi.
Nú liggr gunndjarfr
á Geirstǫðum
herkonungr
haugi ausinn.
Ok niðkvísl Þrós þróttar hafði of þróazk í Nóregi. Ôleifr réð forðum ofsa víðri grund of Vestmari, unz fótverkr skyldi of viða vígmiðlung við þrǫm Foldar. Gunndjarfr herkonungr liggr nú ausinn haugi á Geirstǫðum.
And the descendants of the Þrór <god> of strength had flourished in Norway. Óláfr once ruled powerfully over a wide area across Vestmarir, until a foot disease was to destroy the battle-dealer [WARRIOR] at the edge of Fold. The war-daring king of the host now lies surrounded by a mound in Geirstaðir.
readings
notes
[14] á Geirstǫðum ‘in Geirstaðir’: Geirstaðir is most likely modern Gjekstad (Rygh et al. 1897-1936, VI, 273), close to Gokstad, where a ship burial was found in a large mound. A man aged between forty and fifty was buried there, who may have limped because of an injury to his left knee (Holck 2009). Brøgger (1916, 54) identified him as Óláfr Geirstaðaálfr. However, he seems to have died from diverse wounds inflicted upon him in battle (Holck 2009) and not from the fótverkr ‘foot-disease’ mentioned in this stanza. In addition, dendrochronological evidence from the Gokstad mound dates it to c. 900 (Myhre 1992c, 276; Capelle 1998, 301). Both facts tell against Óláfr or Rǫgnvaldr heiðumhár having been buried there.