[1] Virfill: According to Björn Sigfússon (1934, 138), the name might be interpreted as ‘coloured one, one clothed in coloured clothing’ and as cognate with Virvir ‘dyer’, a dwarf-name (see Note to Þul Dverga 2/8; cf. OFris. verver ‘dyer’). For another possible explanation, see AEW: Virfill and orf. Saxo mentions Huiruillus along with the names of seven other sea-kings (Saxo 2005, I, 7, 11, 12, pp. 506-7). The name occurs in several kennings and it is also listed as a horse-heiti in Þul Hesta 4/8 (see Note there).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
- Björn Sigfússon. 1934. ‘Names of Sea-Kings (heiti sækonunga)’. MP 32, 125-42.
- Internal references
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dverga 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. 695.
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 939.