Þul á hendi 1III
Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Heiti á hendi 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. 967.
Heiti ‘The names’
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heiti (noun n.): name, promise
eru ‘are’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
handar ‘of the hand’
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hǫnd (noun f.; °handar, dat. hendi; hendr (hendir StatPáll³ 752¹²)): hand
hrammr ‘paw’
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hrammr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ar): claws
dýr ‘beast’
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1. dýr (noun n.; °-s (spec.: dyʀiɴs KonrA 66⁴, etc., cf. Seip 1955 188-189); -): animal
notes
[2] dýr ok raukn ‘beast and draught-animal’: Neither of these nouns is otherwise attested as heiti for ‘hand’ or ‘part of a hand’. The pairing of the two terms in this line indicates that dýr n. is used in the sense ‘beast, animal’ here, and is not, as has been suggested, derived from the adj. dýrr ‘precious, worthy, dear’ (AEW: dýr 2) perhaps referring to jewels (dýrgripr), i.e. rings worn on the arm or finger (see also ÍO: dýr 3). The terms ‘beast’ and ‘draught-animal’ may have been added to the list as a kind of rueful joke: the hand (or arm) is a body part that does a lot of hard work, just like an animal (dýr) or a beast of burden (raukn).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
notes
[2] dýr ok raukn ‘beast and draught-animal’: Neither of these nouns is otherwise attested as heiti for ‘hand’ or ‘part of a hand’. The pairing of the two terms in this line indicates that dýr n. is used in the sense ‘beast, animal’ here, and is not, as has been suggested, derived from the adj. dýrr ‘precious, worthy, dear’ (AEW: dýr 2) perhaps referring to jewels (dýrgripr), i.e. rings worn on the arm or finger (see also ÍO: dýr 3). The terms ‘beast’ and ‘draught-animal’ may have been added to the list as a kind of rueful joke: the hand (or arm) is a body part that does a lot of hard work, just like an animal (dýr) or a beast of burden (raukn).
raukn ‘draught-animal’
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2. raukn (noun n.): draught animal
notes
[2] dýr ok raukn ‘beast and draught-animal’: Neither of these nouns is otherwise attested as heiti for ‘hand’ or ‘part of a hand’. The pairing of the two terms in this line indicates that dýr n. is used in the sense ‘beast, animal’ here, and is not, as has been suggested, derived from the adj. dýrr ‘precious, worthy, dear’ (AEW: dýr 2) perhaps referring to jewels (dýrgripr), i.e. rings worn on the arm or finger (see also ÍO: dýr 3). The terms ‘beast’ and ‘draught-animal’ may have been added to the list as a kind of rueful joke: the hand (or arm) is a body part that does a lot of hard work, just like an animal (dýr) or a beast of burden (raukn).
greip ‘grip’
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greip (noun f.; °; -r, -ar): hand, talon
mund ‘hand’
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1. mund (noun f.): hand
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
spǫnn ‘span’
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spǫnn (noun f.; °spannar; gen. spanna): grip
gaupn ‘hollow of the hand’
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gaupn (noun f.): palm, hollow of hand
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
hreifi ‘wrist’
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hreifi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): [hand, wrist]
ulfliðr ‘wrist’
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ulfliðr (noun m.): [wrist]
notes
[5] ulfliðr (m.) ‘wrist’: Lit. ‘wolf-joint’. In Gylf (SnE 2005, 25), the word is explained in the context of the myth about the god Týr and the wolf Fenrir. As the story goes, the Æsir decided to restrain the wolf Fenrir with the fetter Gleipnir (‘Swallower’ or ‘Gaper’), but they could not convince the wolf to let them bind him until they had placed Týr’s hand in his mouth as a pledge. When the Æsir, despite their promise, refused to let him go, he bit off the hand at the place that is now called the wolf-joint (úlfliðr). From a modern point of view, this Old Norse etymology is incorrect, however, and the first element of the word is derived from ǫln, alin ‘the arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger’ (cf. ǫlbogi, ǫlnbogi ‘elbow’). Hence the original form of the word must have been ǫlnliðr (ModIcel. úlnliður, perhaps ǫln- > óln- > úln-; see ÍO: úlnliður).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
fingr ‘finger’
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1. fingr (noun m.; °fingrs/fingrar, dat. fingri; fingr, acc. fingr): finger
armr ‘arm’
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1. armr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): arm
leggr ‘forearm’
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leggr (noun m.; °-jar, dat. -; -ir): limb
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
bógr ‘shoulder’
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bógr (noun m.; °dat. bǿgi; bǿgir, acc. bógu): shoulder
lámr ‘paw’
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lámr (noun m.; °; -ar): [paw]
notes
[7] lámr (m.) ‘paw’: This is either an Old Norse word (if so, connected with the weak verb láma(st) ‘skulk’; see ÍO: lámur) or a loanword (< OIr. lám ‘hand’). De Vries (AEW: lámr; loppa) suggest that lámr m. is etymologically related to loppa (‘paw’, l. 8), however. Other than in the present þula and in the similar list of heiti in SnE (see Introduction above), lámr occurs only in EGils Guðkv 2/7IV.
hnefi ‘fist’
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hnefi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): fist
lófi ‘palm’
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lófi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): palm of hand
loppa ‘paw’
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loppa (noun f.): [paw]
notes
[8] loppa (f.) ‘paw’: Loppa denotes a large, fat hand (< Gmc *lumpōn; see AEW: loppa). The word does not otherwise occur in Old Norse poetry, but it is used in the later rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: loppa).
krumma ‘claw’
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krumma (noun f.; °; -ur): [claw]
notes
[8] krumma (f.) ‘claw’: This word, which occurs quite often in saga literature, seems to mean ‘hand with bent or crooked fingers’. See Note to Gríml Lv 3/8VIII (GrL 5).
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