Note to Eil Þdr 10^III

[3] á seilhimin sjóla ‘on the strap-sky [SHIELD] of the ruler’: Here, too, Þórr is referred to by a heiti for a mortal ruler (sjóli). The shield-kenning consists of the base-word himinn ‘sky’ and the determinant seil ‘rope, strap’. The shield-kenning sól seilar ‘sun of the strap’ in Tindr Hákdr 4/3^I confirms that seil ‘strap’, as a component of a shield, can serve as a determinant. Sjóla m. gen. sg. ‘ruler’ must belong to the prepositional phrase á seilhiminn ‘on the strap-sky’, as positions 2-6 of a Type C odd line normally constitute a syntactic unit (Gade 1995a, 123). The interpretations of Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1851, 8) and Finnur Jónsson (1900b, 387; Skj B) violate this rule by combining seil ‘strap’ (l. 3) with skaunar ‘of the shield’ (l. 2) and integrate himinsjóla ‘of the sky-king’ as a kenning for Þórr in the parenthesis aflraun vas þat himinsjóla ‘this was a test of strength of the sky-king’. Kock (NN §453) noticed the metrical problem this creates: metrical positions 2-4 in such lines are usually occupied by a cpd or a noun phrase (Kuhn 1983, 142; Gade 1995a, 123-8). A cpd like himinsjóla occupying positions 3-6 would thus clearly violate the metre. Moreover, calling Þórr a ‘sky-king’ would be unique and is therefore doubtful (Reichardt 1948, 358; Meissner 253-4). Aside from his connection with thunder, there is no support for Þórr’s role as a ruler of the sky in the surviving myths about Þórr.

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. Gade, Kari Ellen. 1995a. The Structure of Old Norse dróttkvætt Poetry. Islandica 49. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
6. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
7. Finnur Jónsson. 1900b. ‘Þórsdrápa Eilífs Goðrúnarsonar’. Oversigt over det Kgl. Danske videnskabernes selskabs forhandlinger 1900, 369-410.
8. Reichardt, Konstantin. 1948. ‘Die Thórsdrápa des Eilífr Goðrúnarson: Textinterpretation’. PMLA 63, 329-91.
9. Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 1851. Tvö brot af Haustlaung og Þórsdrápa. Reykjavík: Prentað á kostnað skólasjóðsins.
10. Internal references
11. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Tindr Hallkelsson, Hákonardrápa 4’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 345.