Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Á heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 840.
Þyn, Rín ok Nið, Þǫll, rimr, ysja
Dún, ógn, Dýna, dyn, hǫllfara,
órun ok bró, auðskjalg, Lodda,
mun, merkriða, mein ok Saxelfr.
Þyn, Rín ok Nið, Þǫll, rimr, ysja, Dún, ógn, Dýna, dyn, hǫllfara, órun ok bró, auðskjalg, Lodda, mun, merkriða, mein ok Saxelfr.
Þyn, Rhine and Nidelven, Þǫll, rimr, hastener, Danube, terror, Dvina, noise, sloping-goer, furious one and bró, auðskjálg, Lodda, one moving forward, boundary-crosser, harm and Elbe.
Mss: R(43v), Tˣ(45v), C(12v), A(19r), B(9r), 744ˣ(73r) (SnE)
Readings: [1] Þyn: ‘Þun’ C, ‘[…]yn’ B, ‘Þýn’ 744ˣ; ok: om. Tˣ [2] Þǫll: ‘[…]’ B, ‘þọḷl’ 744ˣ; rimr: ‘rymr’ C, ‘[…]’ B, ‘ṛ . . ok’ 744ˣ [3] Dún: dyn Tˣ, B; ógn: ‘augn’ C, ‘ófn’ A, ‘of[…]’ B, ‘ofn’ 744ˣ; Dýna: ‘[…]yna’ B, dýna 744ˣ [4] dyn hǫllfara (‘dynholl fara’): dyn hǫll fara Tˣ, A, ‘dun haullfara’ C, ‘dýnho᷎ll fara’ B [5] órun: orunn Tˣ, B; bró: ‘bra’ C, 744ˣ, ‘bra[…]’ B [6] auðskjalg: útskjálg C, ‘[…]’ B, ‘audskia . .’ 744ˣ; Lodda: ‘[…]od[…]’ B, ‘lodd.’ 744ˣ [7] mun: myn A, ‘[…]un’ B, mun 744ˣ; merkriða: merkr riða C [8] mein: ‘[…]in’ B, ‘mein’ 744ˣ; Saxelfr: ‘[…]axel[…]’ B, saxelfr 744ˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 669, Skj BI, 666, Skald I, 331; SnE 1848-87, I, 576, II, 479, 563, 622, SnE 1931, 206, SnE 1998, I, 125.
Notes: [1] Þyn (f.): Lit. ‘storm’. One of the mythical rivers mentioned in Grí 27/9 and Gylf (SnE 2005, 33; cf. OE þunian ‘to storm’, S-G I, 198). CVC 780 identifies Þyn as the Tyne in north-eastern England, which is unlikely from a phonological point of view (for early English spellings of that river-name, see Ekwall 1928, 425). See also SnE 1998, II, 527. — [1] Nið ‘Nidelven’: The river that flows through the city of Trondheim, Norway. — [2] Þǫll (f.): The meaning and derivation of this river-name is uncertain (see AEW: þǫll 2; S-G I, 198; ÍO: Þöll, Þǫll). According to CVC 780, Þǫll is the river Thuil in Scotland. Alternatively, this river has been identified as the New Norw. Tollåga, a river in Beiarn, northern Norway (Rygh 1904, 272). The name, whose form is identical to þǫll f. ‘fir’, is also known from Grí, where the same alliterating river-names occur in st. 27/9-10 (NK 62) (Þyn oc Vin, | Þǫll oc Hǫll), and Gylf (SnE 2005, 33), and Þǫll is also used as a river-name in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: þǫll). — [2] rimr: A hap. leg. Perhaps related to the name of a Norwegian river (Rygh 1904, 192), New Norw. Rømua < ON Rima (in Old Norse found only in compounds, e.g. Rimudalum, Rimulandir; see also ÍO: Rim(u)r), a tributary of Glomma in eastern Norway. — [2] ysja (f.) ‘hastener’: Or ‘noisy one, bustler’. As a river-name the word does not occur in other sources, but ysja ‘bustler’ is a heiti for ‘fire’ (see Note to Þul Elds 3/2). — [3] Dún (f.) ‘Danube’: Cf. Heimslýsing (Hb 1892-6, 150). Alternatively, ON Dún could be the Don, which is the name of rivers in Lancashire, South Yorkshire and Aberdeenshire (Bugge 1875, 222). — [3] ógn (f.) ‘terror’: According to Fritzner: ógn, two rivers of this name are located in Jæren, Rogaland, and in Nord-Trøndelag (Rygh 1904, 178; ÍO: Ógn). As a heiti for ‘river’, ógn is not found in skaldic verse, but it occurs in the gold-kenning ljómi ógnar ‘beam of the river’ in HHund I 21/6 (cf. also S-G II, 83) and in Fáfn 42/8. Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 267) argues that this river-heiti is identical with the noun ógn f. ‘terror, dread’. However, according to Nordenstreng (1934), ógn means ‘water’ and is related to Ægir, the name of the sea-giant in Old Norse myth, and *ahwu, cf. ON á ‘river’, Lat. aqua ‘water’. Alternatively, the correct form of the name could be ǫgn (cf. the C variant ‘augn’) and related to the verb aga ‘flow’ (ÍO: Ögn, Ǫgn 3). The A, B (744ˣ) variant, ofn, could be the Old Norse name for the river Avon in England (OE Afen, Afene, Afne; so Bugge 1875, 224). This heiti is also recorded in st. 3/7 below. — [3] Dýna (f.) ‘Dvina’: Most likely the Northern or Western Dvina (Düna) (cf. the river Dýna in Russia mentioned in Gǫngu-Hrólfs saga chs 1, 28, FSN III, 239, 317 and Duna in Hb 1892-6, 150). Alternatively, Dýna could be one of the rivers Don in England or Scotland (see CVC 780 and Note to l. 3 above). — [4] dyn (f.) ‘noise’: Perhaps a f. formation to dynr m. ‘noise’. As a heiti for ‘river’ the name does not occur elsewhere. — [4] hǫllfara (f.) ‘sloping-goer’: In this form (which is also adopted in Skj B, Skald and SnE 1998), the name is found only in ms. C. The cpd is spelled as two separate words in all other mss, and it could be that these were two distinct heiti rather than one, i.e. the adj. hǫll f. ‘sloping’ and fara ‘goer, traveller’. Hǫll (from the adj. hallr ‘sloping’) is listed among the names of mythical rivers in Grí 27/10. Hǫllfara is not attested elsewhere as a heiti for ‘river’. — [5] órun (f.) ‘furious one’: The meaning of this heiti is obscure. It could be related to ModIcel. órar ‘madness’ and ær ‘furious’ (ÍO: Órun). It is attested in a kenning for ‘gold’ (Anon Bjark 5/7). — [5] bró: A hap. leg. According to CVC 780, this is the river Brora in Scotland, whereas Rygh (1904, 23) argues that Bró is Brua (from brú f. ‘bridge’), which he identifies as a small river flowing past the farm Brujordet in Skjåk, Oppland, Norway. The name is given as ‘bra’ in mss B and C, which could be related to the weak verb brá ‘glitter’ (see ÍO: Bró; Brá 3). — [6] auðskjalg (f.): Or auðskjǫlg. This is possibly a mythical name (so Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 264). The name may mean ‘one looking sideways at riches’ (from auðr ‘riches, wealth’ and f. nom. sg. of the adj. skjálgr ‘wry, oblique, squinting’), or it could be connected with the river Shallag in Scotland (CVC 780). Alternatively, auðskjálg may be interpreted as ‘easily bent one’ (if the first element is the adverbial prefix auð- ‘easily’). The cpd is not attested elsewhere. — [6] Lodda (f.): Possibly the river Lud in Lincolnshire, England (CVC 780; SnE 1998, II, 489), although there are no early spellings of this name with <dd> (Ekwall 1928, 262 derives it from OE hlūde ‘loud’). Alternatively, it could be the name of a Norwegian river, present-day Lodda, a tributary of the Gaula (ON Gaul) in Melhus, Gauldalen, Sør-Trøndelag (so Rygh 1904, 147). Lodda could be related to the weak verb loða ‘stick, cling fast’. Lodda is also the name of an island in Norway (see Þul Eyja 5/2). — [7] mun (f.) ‘one moving forward’: A hap. leg. The heiti is most likely connected with the weak verb muna ‘move forward’ (see Fritzner: muna 2; cf. also the next name). If the correct form is myn (so A), this could be the Old Norse name for the river Maun in Nottinghamshire, England (CVC 780; see also Rygh 1904, 165). Ekwall (1928, 280) thinks Maun is a later back formation, however, and if so, this could not be the source of the Old Norse form. — [7] merkriða (f.) ‘boundary-crosser’: This cpd is not attested elsewhere. The first element is probably derived from mark ‘landmark, forest, boundary’ and the second from the strong verb ríða ‘ride, swing, stagger, roll’ (Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 266-7). — [8] mein (f.) ‘harm’: The heiti appears to be the same word as the f. noun mein ‘harm’, but it is also possible that mein is a geographical name, e.g. Mein Water in Scotland (so CVC 780). Bugge (1875, 221-2) argues that, because this river-name is followed by Saxelfr, the Old Norse name for the Elbe, Mein is the river Main in Germany. The word is not otherwise attested as a heiti for ‘river’.
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