Note to Anon Sól 51VII
[6] skýdrúpnis ‘of the cloud-lowerer’: Hap. leg., presumably a periphrasis for the heavily overcast sky (cf. LP: skýdrúpnir). Though the form of 166bˣ occurs in 38 mss in total, dripnir is unknown outside the poem. Four mss give drúpnis from drúpa ‘to bow one’s head, to lower’, usually as a sign of sorrow, see st. 39/3. The repetition of ský- and skýjum is clumsy; while skýjum is unmetrical (with a trochaic final foot to the full l., a practice this poet avoids elsewhere), it is found almost universally across the tradition. Papp15ˣ and related mss try to avoid this repetition with ‘skirmi’, not otherwise attested.