Note to Þul Konunga 3III
[2] sjóli (m.) ‘chieftain’: Other than in this þula, the word occurs only once in older poetry (Eil Þdr 10/3), but later it reappears in the rímur and becomes frequent in modern lays (see CVC: sjóli). The etymology of this heiti is uncertain. Noreen (1890, 311) believed that it is derived from Gmc *sebul- (cf. MHG unsivel ‘unfriendly’), while Alexander Jóhannesson (1951-6, 771) thought it might be related to sær/sjór ‘sea’, and hence possibly ‘a sea-king’. Ms. B is no longer legible here (‘s[…]i’), but 744ˣ offers ‘skvle’ i.e. the pers. n. Skúli, who is also listed in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 101) among the sons of Hálfdan gamli (see Introduction above). That word is otherwise not attested as a heiti for ‘king’ in poetry.
References
- Bibliography
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Alexander Jóhannesson. 1951-6. Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2 vols. Bern: Franke.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Noreen, Adolf. 1890. ‘Några fornnordiska judlagar. I-V’. ANF 6, 303-39.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 5 May 2024)
- Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson, Þórsdrápa 10’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 96.