Sneið fyr Sikiley víða
súð; vôrum þá prúðir;
brýnt skreið vel til vánar
vengis hjǫrtr und drengjum.
Vættik miðr, at motti
myni enn þinig nenna;
þó lætr Gerðr í Gǫrðum
gollhrings við mér skolla.
Súð sneið fyr víða Sikiley; vôrum þá prúðir; hjǫrtr vengis skreið brýnt und drengjum, vel til vánar. Vættik miðr, at motti myni enn nenna þinig; þó lætr Gerðr gollhrings í Gǫrðum skolla við mér.
The ship sliced [the sea] before broad Sicily; we were proud then; the stag of the cabin [SHIP] glided swiftly beneath the men entirely as expected. I hardly think that a sluggard will ever head there; yet the Gerðr <goddess> of the gold ring [WOMAN] in Russia ridicules me.
[4] vengis (n. gen. sg.) ‘of the cabin’: According to Falk, this was most likely a cabin in the stern of a ship (cf. ModNorw. dialects væng ‘ship-cabin’; see Falk 1912, 10; LP: vengi 3; Fritzner: vængr). Alternatively, Haraldr, who had served in the Byzantine army, could refer to structures aboard Byzantine ships, either castles or the berth for commanders in the stern, surrounded by a round tent (see Pryor and Jeffreys 2006, 227-38, 448). Otherwise, the word is attested poetically in the meaning ‘pillow’ (LP: vengi 1) or ‘plain, field’ (LP: vengi 2). Jesch (2001a, 153-4) suggests that vengis ‘of the plain’ is a half-kenning for ‘sea’ (hjǫrtr vengis ‘the stag of the sea’, i.e. ‘ship’).