[2] skipi jarðar ‘on the ship of the earth’: That the world can be symbolised by a ship is a homiletic commonplace; cf. Lange (1958a, 257-8) who adduces a homily about the ship of the earth in AM 673 a 4o. Here, however, the Christian symbol is given a traditional ON context, and associated with the persistent force of sexual desire, linked with the dominance of female powers. The metaphor of the world as a ship is elaborated in the second half of the st.; see Fidjestøl 1979, 56-7.