Þul Sólar 1III/8 — leika ‘plaything’
Sól ok sunna, sýn, fagrahvél,
leiptr, hrjóðr, leika, líknskin, rǫðull,
leiptr, ifrǫðull ok ljósfari,
drífandi, alfrǫðull ok Dvalins leika.
Sól ok sunna, sýn, fagrahvél, leiptr, hrjóðr, leika, líknskin, rǫðull, leiptr, ifrǫðull ok ljósfari, drífandi, alfrǫðull ok leika Dvalins.
Sun and sunlight, sight, fair-wheel, lightning, coverer, plaything, grace-shine, disc, lightning, doubt-disc and light-bringer, driving one, elf-disc and Dvalinn’s <dwarf’s> plaything.
notes
[8] leika Dvalins ‘Dvalinn’s <dwarf’s> plaything’: Or ‘Dvalinn’s playmate’. In Alv 16/3 this is the name for ‘sun’ among the dwarfs, possibly derived from a lost myth (for Dvalinn, a dwarf whose name is often used as a term for ‘dwarf’ in general, see Note to Þul Dverga 2/2). According to Old Norse beliefs, dwarfs, who are rock-dwellers, cannot endure daylight and are turned into stone by the sun’s rays. Hence leika here denotes ‘sby or sth. capable of destroying the dwarfs’ (so Åkerblom 1920, 52-4), which is clearly a euphemism. Alternatively, the phrase has been interpreted as ‘Dvalinn’s mockery’ (Güntert 1921, 144; see also Kommentar III, 336-40). This name, which is more of a mythological kenning than a heiti, is mentioned among the poetic terms for ‘sun’ in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85) and it occurs in Heiðr (FSN I, 475). The heiti is also used in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: 2. leika).