[2] stólkonungr ‘emperor’: This term, lit. ‘throne-king’, refers in prose to the Byzantine emperor (Fritzner: stólkonungr; cf. ÞSkegg Hardr 1/3II stólþengill ‘emperor’, lit. ‘throne-lord’ and Note). Combined with l. 2 sólar ‘of the sun’, it can be construed in two ways (both offered in Meissner 379): as a kenning for God, unusual since ‘lord of the heavens’ is the normal pattern, or as an inverted kenning, konungr stóls sólar ‘king of the throne of the sun [HEAVEN > = God]’ (Skj B; LP). This too would be unusual since the cpd stólkonungr lacks the incongruity characteristic of inverted kennings, which encourages the audience to analyse the structure as inverted.
References
- Bibliography
- Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
- Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- Internal references
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Þórarinn Skeggjason, Haraldsdrápa 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 294-5.