Note to Þul Á 5III
[6] Þjóðnuma (f.): Lit. ‘people-seizer’ (so Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 263) or ‘great/powerful seizer’ since þjóð- in compounds is often used as a substantival epithet with a qualitative meaning (on such heiti, see Gurevich 1992c, 47-50). The second element is most likely derived from the strong verb nema ‘take, seize, grasp’. This is a mythical river in Grí 28/3 and Gylf (SnE 2005, 33: Veg, Svinn, Þjóðnuma). Alternatively, the second element has been explained as related to ModNorw. dialects nome (ON *numi m.) ‘small lake close to a river, with whose water level it rises and falls’; ‘water container’ (cf. the farm-name Nomeland). Hence Þjóðnuma could possibly mean ‘one that contains a great deal of water’ (Hale 1983, 176).
References
- Bibliography
- Gurevich, Elena A. 1992c. ‘Þulur in Skáldskaparmál: An Attempt at Skaldic Lexicology’. ANF 107, 35-52.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1933-4. ‘Þulur’. APS 8, 262-72.
- Hale, Christopher. 1983. ‘The River Names in Grímnismál 27-29’. In Glendinning et al. 1983, 165-86.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 1 May 2024)
- Not published: do not cite ()