Þul Sáðs 1III
Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sáðs heiti 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. 985.
Akr ‘Crop’
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akr (noun m.; °akrs, dat. akri; akrar): field
ax ‘ear of corn’
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ax (noun n.; °; *-): [ear of corn]
sæði ‘seed’
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sæði (noun n.; °-s; -): [seed]
ǫgn ‘chaff’
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1. ǫgn (noun f.; °; agnir/agnar): [chaff]
barr ‘barley’
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1. barr (noun n.): barley
notes
[2] barr (m.) ‘barley’: In Alv this heiti is said to belong to the language of the gods, while bygg, the common term for ‘barley’ in Old Norse, allegedly comes from the language of human beings (Alv 32/2, NK 129): Bygg heitir með mǫnnom, | enn barr með goðom ‘It is called bygg among men, but barr among the gods’ (see Kommentar III, 366).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
halmr ‘straw’
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halmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i/-): straw
áll ‘sprout’
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2. áll (noun m.): channel
notes
[3] áll (m.) ‘sprout’: Not otherwise attested with this meaning in Old Norse, but see New Norw., ModSwed. ål ‘sprout’ (AEW: áll 2).
efstakné ‘uppermost member’
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efstakné (noun n.): [uppermost member]
notes
[3] efstakné (n.) ‘uppermost member’: A hap. leg. derived from the adj. efstr sup. ‘uppermost, last’ and kné f. ‘knee’. The meaning of the word is unclear, perhaps denoting the uppermost part of a plant (see Note to kné, l. 5 below). Alternatively, kné is used here in a metaphorical sense with the meaning ‘cognate degree’, hence ‘the last generation (or offspring)’. That interpretation is suggested by the next heiti in the list, eigin, which is homonymous with eigin (adj. f.) ‘one’s own’.
eigin ‘shoot’
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1. eigin (noun n.; °-s): property; seed
notes
[4] eigin (n.) ‘shoot’: A hap. leg. Cf. New Norw. eigind, ModSwed. dialects eien ‘the first sprouts of corn’ (cf. áll ‘sprout’ in l. 3), MLG īne ‘needle’. The original meaning is perhaps ‘sharp point’ (cf. ÍO: eigin). See also Note to l. 3 above.
skotblað ‘shoot-blade’
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skotblað (noun n.): [shoot-blade]
notes
[4] skotblað (n.) ‘shoot-blade’: A hap. leg. According to CVC, skotblað is ‘the sheath of an ear of corn before it opens’. The sense of this word can be reconstructed from New Norw. skotblad, which is øvste blad på eit framskytande aks, i. e. ‘the uppermost leaf [i.e. husk] on an ear of corn before it opens’ (so Heggstad et al. 2008: skotblad; LP: skotblað).
blað ‘blade’
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blað (noun n.; °; *-): blade, leaf
kné ‘knee’
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kné (noun n.; °-s; -, gen. knjá): knee, lap
notes
[5] kné (n.) ‘knee’: See also efstakné ‘uppermost member’ (l. 3 above). As a name for ‘grain’, kné is otherwise unattested, but the sequence blað, kné ok rót ‘blade, knee and root’ suggests that kné here is a term for a part of a plant. On the possible relation to knefill ‘post, pole’, see Dronke (1969, 133).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
rót ‘root’
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1. rót (noun f.; °-ar; rǿtr): root
bygg ‘barley’
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bygg (noun n.; °-s): barley
rugr ‘rye’
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rugr (noun m.; °-ar, dat. -): rye
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
sáð ‘grain’
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2. sáð (noun n.; °-s; -): seed
korn ‘corn’
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korn (noun n.; °-s; -): [corn, grain]
ginhafri ‘false-oats’
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ginhafri (noun m.): [false-oats]
notes
[7] ginhafri (m.) ‘false-oats’: A hap. leg. This heiti most likely designates a kind of oats (hafri). The word might be related to Orkney ginn ‘a kind of wild oats’ (also used as the first element in compounds, e.g ginnowy ‘poor oats’; see Marwick 1929, 54 and Grøn 1927, 38-9) and ON ginn m. ‘deceit’. Finnur Jónsson (LP: ginhafri) derives the first part of the word from gin n. ‘mouth’ (of beasts) and hence interprets this heiti as ‘gaping oats’.
korki ‘korki’
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korki (noun m.): [korki]
notes
[8] korki (m.): A hap. leg. Most likely a loanword, cf. Shetland korka ‘oats’ < OIr. coirce, corca ‘oats’ (Bugge 1865a, 92-4; ÍO: korki 1), or perhaps a foreign word, since there is no evidence that this word was ever used in Iceland (that applies to the next heiti in this line as well). However, according to LP: korki, this heiti may be related to New Norw. korkje ‘shield lichen’ (Parmelia saxatilis), a kind of lichen used as dye-stuff (cf. Aasen 2000: korkje).
barlak ‘barlak’
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barlak (noun n.): [barlak]
notes
[8] barlak: A hap. leg. This word is borrowed from Old English (< OE bærlic ‘barley’; cf. Bugge 1875, 229 and ÍO: barlak), whereas the Old Norse common word for ‘barley’ is bygg (l. 6 above).
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Of the twenty heiti for ‘grain’ given in this stanza, nine never appear in other Old Norse poetic sources: ǫgn f. ‘chaff’ (l. 2), áll m. ‘sprout’, efstakné n. ‘uppermost member’ (l. 3), eigin n. ‘shoot’, skotblað n. ‘shoot-blade’ (l. 4), kné n. ‘knee’ (l. 5), ginhafri m. ‘false-oats’ (l. 7), korki m. (l. 8), barlak (l. 8). Many of these are hap. leg. The heiti ǫgn ‘chaff’ does occur in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: ǫgn).
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