[3, 4] konungr Róms ‘king of Rome [CHRIST]’: Meissner (Meissner 369) places this among the oldest kennings for the Christian god, a group for which geographical determinants are characteristic (see Meissner 378), as in gætir Gríklands ‘the guardian of Greece [= God]’ in Þloft Hfl 1/1-2I or gramr Jórðánar ‘the prince of the Jordan [CHRIST]’ in Sigv ErfÓl 28/2I. It was possible to refer to Christ as the ruler of Rome because the pope, the Christian god’s earthly representative, resided there.
References
- Bibliography
- 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.
- Internal references
- Judith Jesch (ed.) 2012, ‘Sigvatr Þórðarson, Erfidrápa Óláfs helga 28’ 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. 697.
- Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórarinn loftunga, Hǫfuðlausn 1’ 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. 850.