Could you comment on the grammatical complexties of the phrase kjóla valdi
in Hymirskvida 19?
There is a vast difference between the Icelandic and English scholarship on
the meaning of this phrase. Recently, German & English scholarship has
attempted to use this passage to demonstrate that Thor was actually a
sea-god, a "Lord of Ships". There seems to be some confusion among Asatruar
about what the correct interpretation is. Could you speak on this?
In Hymiskviða 19, the giant Hymir, on a fishing expedition with Thor, says:
"Verk þykja þín
verri miklu
kjóla valdi ..."
English scholars have variously translated the phrase "kjóla valdi" as:
"navigator" (Cottle)
"lord of keels" (Thorpe)
"Boatman" (Vigfusson)
"steerer of ships" (Hollander)
"lord of the sea" (Terry)
"lord of keels" (Motz)
"master of the ships" (LaFarge/Tucker)
"steersman of ships" (Larrington)
All are in agreement that the giant Hymir refers to Thor as a god of ships.
For example, Larrington writes:
"Your deed seems much worse, steersman of ships, than if you had sat
quietly".
However the Icelandic scholars have a quite different view. They see this
phrase as referring to Hymir as a ship-owner, rather than to Thor as the
"god of ships".
The most recent edition in Icelandic (Gísli Sigurðsson, 1998), in his
comments on this verse, loosely translated from Icelandic reads:
"Hymir is the speaker in the second half of the stanza. Kjóla valdr -
steersman of ships, i.e. Hymir himself"
The commentary from the edition of Ólafur Briem (1985), similarily
translated, also supports this view:
"kjóla valdur: steersman of a ship; can only refer to Hymir himself."
Guðni Jónsson, in Eddulyklar (1954), under kjóll, writes:
"kjóla valdr: skipstjórnarmaður, stýrimaður (um Hymi), Hym. 19." --or--
"kjóla valdr: captain of a ship, steersman (of Hymir)"
This is further supported by the Lexicon Poeticum of Sveinbjörn Egilsson,
edited by Finnur Jónsson. Under kjóll, the Lexicon Poeticum says:
"kjóla valdr, skib-ejer, om jætten Hymir, Hym. 19. ---or---
"kjóla valdr: ship-owner, referring to the giant Hymir."
Thus the Icelandic scholars all seem to agree that the half-stanza means:
"Your deeds seem
much worse
to the ship-owner ..."
or more plainly...
"Your deeds seem
much worse
to me (Hymir)...."
By "kjóla valdr" they understand Hymir to be referring to himself, the
owner of the ship, not to Thor at all. This of course is the exact
opposite opinion of the English scholars. I assume that the Icelandic
scholars are correct in this matter, as native speakers of the language.
But, why might *all* of the English scholars have gotten this wrong? When
looking into this matter, I expected that at least one would have gotten it
right, but so far, I haven't found a single English translation that
interprets this phrase to mean Hymir as the ship-owner. Odd, isn't it?
I bring it to you, as it might make an interesting lesson, on the
complexities of translating Icelandic, as well as enlighten the people who
are firm in their belief that it can only mean "God of Ships" since so many
of our English-speaking scholars say it does.
Wassail, William
"The art of poetry is implication"
Cecil Wood, Germanic Review v. 33, no. 4, Dec. 1958.