Note to Þul Á 6^III

[1, 2] Nyt ... Nǫt: The same pair of alliterating names is found in Gylf (SnE 2005, 33) and Grí 28/4 (NK 63) Nyt oc Nǫt lit. ‘profit and wet one’. Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 263) argues that the river-name Nyt is the same as ON nyt f. ‘use, enjoyment, produce’, and hence the implied meaning of this heiti might be ‘one rich in fish’. Such river-names as ModSwed. Nytteström may, according to Hale (1983, 177-8), support this interpretation. ON nyt f. also means ‘milk’, however, and it is possible that the river-name Nyt could refer to the colour of the water (Hale loc. cit. mentions Mjølkeelven lit. ‘milk river’ in Norway). For Nǫt, cf. ModSwed. Naten, a lake in Södermanland, and OS nat, OHG naz ‘wet’, Goth. ganatjan ‘to wet’, Sanskrit nadi ‘river’ (AEW: nǫt 2). According to Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 263), Nǫt might mean ‘shaking one’. Sijmons and Gering (S-G I, 199) connect it with the spear-heiti nǫt (see Þul Spjóts l. 1) and interpret this river-name as ‘stinging or burning one’ (see also Hale 1983, 178). These and other mythical names recorded in ll. 1-2 are names of rivers flowing from the spring Hvergelmir.

References

1. Bibliography
2. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
3. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
4. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
5. S-G = Gering, Hugo. 1927-31. Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda. Nach dem Tode des Verfassers herausgegeben von B. Sijmons. I: Götterlieder. II: Heldenlieder. Halle: Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
6. Finnur Jónsson. 1933-4. ‘Þulur’. APS 8, 262-72.
7. Hale, Christopher. 1983. ‘The River Names in Grímnismál 27-29’. In Glendinning et al. 1983, 165-86.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 23 April 2024)
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Spjóts heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 816. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3197> (accessed 23 April 2024)