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remarkable that she does not discuss the possible meanings of himinjódýr
and himinjódyrr, even though she presents a complex set of ‘scribal slips’
and ‘less certain scribal slips’ in r and even ‘scribal errors’ in the archetypi-
cal *R II.38
despite this general acceptance, the meaning of himinjǫðurr in the line
remains elusive.39 the ‘edge of the sky’ is believed to be the horizon; the
most commonly cited interpretation was put forward by Julius Hoffory in
1889. Hoffory suggested that the lines describe the midnight sun, evoking
the path of the sun during the celestial disorder which is being described
at this point in the poem.40 dronke interprets the lines in the light of
Vafþrúðnismál 23 and the name Mundilfœri, who is named in this stanza
as father of sun and moon. the form Mundilföri, she argues, is similar to
möndull [handle for turning a handmill]; as möndull seems to be related to
the sanskrit manthati [to stir, turn round] and manthá [stirring spoon], she
suggests that the lines are connected ‘to the archaic concept of the cosmic
mill, by which the heavens turn on the world pillar, regulating seasons and
time’.41
It is not the objective of this article to discuss the literary interpreta-
tions of these lines in Völuspá. even if they may plausibly or ingeniously
explain the emended lines, they are only indirectly related to the text in R.
the brief history analysed here shows that the scholarly transmission of
the verses has driven us away from the scribal recording of the text. one
may adopt himinjódýr and read the lines in the light of the myth of Nótt
and dagr, Hrímfaxi and skinfaxi as narrated in Gylfaginning, as did the
seventeenth-century editors and Gísli sigurðsson. On the other hand, the
meaning of himinjódyrr, if such a reading is adopted, may be a reference to
a diverse aspect of the myth, as there is no mention elsewhere of the doors
of the celestial horses. Crucially, these lines are the most unambiguous
mention of celestial horses in eddic poetry, as Vafþrúðnismál 22–25 and
Grímnismál 37–39, on which parts of the myths of the celestial horses in
38 The Poetic Edda, ed. and trans. ursula Dronke, 2 vols. (oxford: Clarendon, 1997), 2:65–
88.
39 finnur Jónsson admits that the word is obscure; he explains it as ‘om himlens rand (ɔ:
horisonten)’ [around the edge of the sky, the horizon], see De gamle Eddadigte, ed. Finnur
Jónsson (Copenhagen: gad, 1932), 3.
40 julius Hoffory, Eddastudien (Berlin: georg reimer, 1889), 83–5.
41 Poetic Edda, ed. and trans. Dronke, 2:116.
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