Note to Eil Þdr 3^III

[3, 4] Rǫgnir galdrs hapts sóknar ‘the Rǫgnir <= Óðinn> of the incantation of the god of battle [= Óðinn > BATTLE > WARRIOR = Þjálfi]’: This warrior-kenning is formed according to the pattern ‘god of battle’, and it expresses ‘battle’ periphrastically as ‘incantation of Óðinn’. For ‘incantation’ as the base-word in battle-kennings, see Meissner 176-7. Almost all eds agree that Rǫgnir must be the base-word of a kenning for Þjálfi, but they construe the kenning with different determinants. Finnur Jónsson (1900b, 378; Skj B) opts for Rǫgnir sóknar ‘Rǫgnir of battle’; Kock (NN §445) proposes the Óðinn-kenning Rǫgnir galdrs ‘Rǫgnir of magic’, which is rejected by Reichardt (1948, 339) on the grounds that Óðinn is out of the question as a companion of Þórr. Reichardt (1948, 339-41) therefore interprets the same kenning as a periphrasis for Loki, much in the same way as Kiil (1956, 101), who expands this supposed Loki-kenning to rǫgnir sagna galdrs ‘leader of the troops of magic’. In the extant Old Norse mythology, there are no connections between Loki and magic incantations, however.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. 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.
5. Finnur Jónsson. 1900b. ‘Þórsdrápa Eilífs Goðrúnarsonar’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1900, 369-410.
6. Kiil, Vilhelm. 1956. ‘Eilífr Goðrúnarson’s Þórsdrápa’. ANF 71, 89-167.
7. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1948. ‘Die Thórsdrápa des Eilífr Goðrúnarson: Textinterpretation’. PMLA 63, 329-91.