Note to Anon (SnE) 18^III

[6] Bil vildi ‘the Bil <goddess> would’: Bil is a goddess (see Þul Kvenna II 3/6 and Note to Þul Ásynja 1/8), and as such the name can function as a base-word in kennings for ‘woman’. There is no determinant here, however, and, furthermore, the line contains skothending (-ild- : ‑ald-) rather than aðalhending. Following Konráð Gíslason (Nj 1875-89, II, 75-6), Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) accordingly emends the verb vildi (3rd pers. sg. pret. subj.) ‘would’ to falda ‘of head-dresses’, which forces another emendation in l. 5 (unna inf. ‘love’ > ynni 3rd pers. sg. pret. subj. ‘would love’) to provide a finite verb for the clause. As Kock (NN §1209) points out, half-kennings for ‘woman’ that involve the names of goddesses are not unattested, and Bil has been treated as a half-kenning in the present edn as well (so also in SnE 1848-87). Kock (NN §§1910, 2991B) emends vildi to valdi ‘would choose to’ to achieve aðalhending. While it is certainly not inconceivable that vildi in U represents a lectio facilior, the ms. reading has been retained here.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
4. Nj 1875-89 = Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson. 1875-89. Njála: Udgivet efter gamle håndskrifter. Íslendingasögur udgivne efter gamle haandskrifter af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-selskab 4. Copenhagen: Thiele.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Internal references
7. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja 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. 763.
8. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kvenna heiti ókend 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 963.
9. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 18 (Skarpheðinn Njálsson, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1243.