Note to Þjóð Yt 14^I

[7] eykr jǫtuns ‘the draught-animal of the giant [BULL]’: Why a bull is associated with a giant is unknown (Meissner 111; LP: eykr). Kock (NN §75) names a few myths associating bulls with giants, e.g. the myth in Bragi Frag 1^III and Gylf (SnE 2005, 7) in which Gefjun turns her sons by a giant into bulls and uses them to dig up a large piece of land from Sweden and drag it into the sea, forming Zealand. A conceivable parallel to the kenning might be Þjóð Haustl 5/2, 4^III hval(r) Várar þrymseilar ‘the whale of the Vár <goddess> of the bowstring [= Skaði <giantess> > OX] ’. But Þjóðólfr’s other bull-kennings are more straightforward: okhreinn ‘yoke-reindeer’ (st. 13/13) or okbjǫrn ‘yoke-bear’ (Þjóð Haustl 6/4^III). From ll. 9-12 the bull appears to be no ordinary animal but perhaps one with supernatural strength that controlled the whole district and was more than a fleeting threat. The lines recall Bragi’s description of Gefjun’s giant bulls (Bragi Frag 1/5-6, 8^III), Øxn bôru átta ennitungl ok fjǫgur haufuð ‘The oxen bore eight forehead-moons [EYES] and four heads’. The expression ‘to bear the head’ could be a metaphor for claiming authority over an area, cf. examples of bera hǫfuð, lit. ‘to bear the head’, in Fritzner: höfuð 1.

References

1. Bibliography
2. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
3. Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
6. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Internal references
8. (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 10 May 2024)
9. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 54.
10. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 439.
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 440.