Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hana 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. 947.
Fegringr, hani, Fjalarr ok áslákr,
kókr, Salgofnir, kambr, Viðofnir,
gylmir, gallus ok gallína,
hœna, keila, hábrók, kaða.
Fegringr, hani, Fjalarr ok áslákr, kókr, Salgofnir, kambr, Viðofnir, gylmir, gallus ok gallína, hœna, keila, hábrók, kaða.
Handsome one, rooster, Fjalarr and áslákr, cock, Salgofnir, comb, Viðofnir, crower, gallus and gallína, hen, keila, high-breeches, cackling bird.
Mss: A(20v), B(9v), 744ˣ(88r) (SnE)
Readings: [1] Fegringr: ‘[…]e᷎[…]nngr’ B, ‘Fe᷎rinngr’ 744ˣ [8] kaða: ‘skada’ B
Editions: Skj AI, 686-7, Skj BI, 676, Skald I, 341; SnE 1848-87, II, 488, 572.
Notes: [1] fegringr (m.) ‘handsome one’: The word is derived from the adj. fagr ‘fair’. It does not occur elsewhere as a heiti for ‘rooster’ (but cf. fegringr in Þórðh Lv 3/2V (Þórð 3)). — [2] Fjalarr: A mythical rooster in Vsp 42/5-8 (NK 10): gól um hánom | í galgviði | fagrrauðr hani, | sá er Fialarr heitir ‘crowed above him [i.e. the giant Eggþér] in gallow-wood the fair red rooster that is named Fjalarr’. Fjalarr is also a giant (Þul Jǫtna I 3/6) and a dwarf (Vsp 16/3). In Skm (SnE 1998, I, 3), Fjalarr is one of the dwarfs who kills the wise Kvasir, but the word is otherwise not attested in poetry as a heiti for ‘rooster’. As Dronke (1997, II, 143) states, it is difficult to see a common element in all these attestations that might give a meaning to the name. According to de Vries (AEW: Fjalarr), the word is probably related to the strong verb fela ‘hide’. — [2] áslákr: As a rooster-heiti the word is not attested elsewhere and it is of uncertain origin. In Old Norse, Áslákr is a pers. n., but it is unclear whether there is a connection between that name and the heiti. The tentative explanation of the heiti given in ÍO: áslák(u)r is not persuasive. — [3] kókr (m.) ‘cock’: A hap. leg. Or kokkr; cf. OE cocc ‘rooster, cock, male bird’. The name is perhaps a loanword or a foreign word (see the Latin words in ll. 5, 6 below). — [3] Salgofnir: This is the name of a rooster in Valhǫll (HHund II 49/7), but it is not found in poetry as a heiti for ‘rooster’. The first element of the cpd is salr m. ‘hall’ but the second element is obscure. It has been suggested that ‑gofnir (Skj B: ‑gófnir) might be connected with New Norw. guv(en) ‘cowering’, possibly ‘one ruffling up in the hall’ (cf. S-G II, 133) or with New Norw. gobb ‘spine, shoulder-blade’ (Holthausen 1948, 92). Alternatively, the correct form of the last element of the cpd may be ‑gopnir (RE 1665 has Salgopner here); for possible explanations of that word, see Bugge (1896b, 110-11) and AEW: Salgofnir. — [4] kambr (m.) ‘comb’: Cf. ON hanakambr ‘comb of a rooster’ and the mythical rooster Gullinkambi ‘Golden-combed one’ in Vsp 43/2. The word does not occur in poetry as a heiti for ‘rooster’. — [4] Viðofnir (m.): This is a rooster with golden feathering that sits in the tree Mimameiðr (Fj 18/2, 24/1, 25/5, 30/3), but this mythical name is not found in poetry as a heiti for ‘rooster’. Viðofnir could be another name for Salgofnir (cf. S-G I, 56, 414 and Falk 1894, 52). This is an obscure name and several explanations have been proposed depending on the interpretation of the two elements of the cpd. If the vowel in við- is short, the first element is most likely from viðr m. ‘tree, wood’, hence, ‘wood-Ofnir’ (so Bugge 1881-96, 497, Anm. 1; cf. Ófnir/Ofnir among the Óðinn heiti, Þul Óðins 7/4 and Note there). Björn Magnússon Ólsen (1917, 14) reconstructed the name as Við-þófnir ‘tree-trampler’. Finnur Jónsson (LP: Víðópnir; but spelled víðófnir in Skj B) suggested that Viðofnir is from Víðópnir ‘wide-crier’ (from the adj. víðr ‘wide’ and óp n. ‘crying, shouting’). RE 1665 has the form Widoffner. — [5] gylmir (m.) ‘crower’: A hap. leg. Cf. the Old Norwegian p. n. Gylmeimar (< *Gylm-heimar (?); see ÍO: Gylmir). The heiti is possibly related to galmr m. ‘clanging’ (see Þul Sverða 2/5) and ‑gelmir ‘noise-maker’, which is a second element in mythical names (see Þul Jǫtna I 2/7 and Note there). — [5-6] gallus ok gallína ‘gallus and gallína’: I.e. ‘rooster and hen’. Neither of these foreign words (= Lat. gallus ‘rooster’, gallina ‘hen’) occurs in other Old Norse texts. See also Introduction to Anon Þulur. — [7] keila (f.): Here ‘hen’, as all the words listed in ll. 6-8 of the present þula, but the heiti is never used in this sense. It is the term for a kind of fish (ModEngl. tusk, Brosmius brosme, see Þul Fiska 4/4) or a she-beast (cf. refkeila ‘female fox’), as well as the name of a giantess (see Note to Þdís Þórr 2/1). — [8] hábrók (f.) ‘high-breeches’: Hábrók was originally a mythical hawk (see Þul Hauks 1/2 and Note there). This name must have been transferred to the list of Hana heiti and, owing to its f. form, placed among terms for ‘hen’ (see Gurevich 1992a, 20). The word is not found elsewhere as a heiti for ‘hen’. — [8] kaða (f.) ‘cackling bird’: So A (and RE 1665). Cf. New Norw. kada ‘cackle’. In Old Norse, the word is otherwise attested only as a nickname (cf. Hkr, ÍF 28, 313). For the B variant, skaða, cf. ModDan. skade ‘magpie’.
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