Þul Þorgþ I 2^III

Vigg ok Stúfr         vas með Skævaði,
        Þegn knátti Blakkr bera;
Silfrtoppr ok Sinir,         svá heyrðak Fáks of getit,
        Gullfaxi ok Jór með goðum.

Vigg ok Stúfr vas með Skævaði, Blakkr knátti bera Þegn; Silfrtoppr ok Sinir, svá heyrðak Fáks of getit, Gullfaxi ok Jór með goðum.

Vigg and Stúfr were with Skævaðr, Blakkr carried Þegn; Silfrtoppr and Sinir, then I heard Fákr mentioned, Gullfaxi and Jór with the gods.

Mss: R(37v), Tˣ(39r), U(40r), A(14v), C(6v) (SnE); papp10ˣ(42v), 2368ˣ(95), 743ˣ(75r) (LaufE)

Readings: [1] Vigg: vingr U, Vig papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ;    Stúfr: Skúfr A, papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [2] vas (‘var’): om. U;    Skævaði (‘skefaði’): ‘skefaxa’ U    [3] Þegn: ‘oþen’ U, corrected from ‘þehn’ A, Þegn ok 2368ˣ;    knátti: mátti C, Knati papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ;    Blakkr: á baki U, ‘bakr’ A, Blakkr ok 2368ˣ;    bera: Beri papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [4] Silfrtoppr: ‘Silrintoppr’ U, ‘saltoppr’ A;    Sinir: so Tˣ, synir R, C, ‘simr’ U, ‘sínarr’ A, Snjár papp10ˣ, 2368ˣ, 743ˣ    [5] heyrðak: heyrða ek þá nefnda heyrða ek ok C;    Fáks: Fák 2368ˣ;    of: ok Tˣ, om. U, C, um A;    getit: getit og Skjur 743ˣ    [6] goðum: goðum rennara 2368ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 649-50, Skj BI, 656, Skald I, 321, NN §2157B, C; SnE 1848-87, I, 480, II, 351, 458, 595, SnE 1931, 170, SnE 1998, I, 88; LaufE 1979, 274, 352, NK 319.

Notes: [1] Vigg: Vigg is not attested as a proper name elsewhere, but it is frequently used in poetry as a common noun (‘horse, steed’; cf. OE wicg, OS wigg ‘horse’). In Skj B the name is given as Viggr (m.), which probably is a later form (see AEW: vigg). See also Þul Hesta, where this heiti appears twice, as vigg (st. 2/7) and as viggr (st. 4/7). The latter is an emended form and the ms. readings can be normalised as vigr/vígr (see Note to Þul Hesta 4/7). Because the form Vigg n. is not really an appropriate name for a horse, Kock (NN §2157B) suggests the reading Vígr m. ‘warlike one’ or ‘swift one’ (from the adj. vígr ‘warlike, able to fight’), but this has no support in the mss (the variant reading vingr, which is found only in U, is likely to be a scribal error). ‘Vig’ in the LaufE mss (<i> and not <í>) cannot be construed as an Old Norse word and is of no help here. — [1] Stúfr: According to Anon Kálfv 2/2, Stúfr m. (lit. ‘stump’) belonged to Vifill, a sea-king mentioned in several Old Norse sources (see Note to Kálfv 2/2). The name stúfr is also recorded in Þul Hesta 1/8 as well as in Þul Øxna 2/5 and Þul Sverða 2/1. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) adopts the reading of A (and LaufE), Skúfr m. (perhaps lit. ‘tassel’), because that word alliterates with the next horse-name. However, as Kock points out (NN §2157C; Skald; see also SnE 1998, I, 88), the alliterating pair here is not Skúfr : Skævaði but Vigg : vas (as in st. 1/3-4 Valr ok Léttfeti, | vas þar Tjaldari). — [2] vas ‘were’: Lit. ‘was’. The finite verb is in the sg. and the subject is in the pl. (see NS §70). — [2] Skævaði ‘Skævaðr’: Lit. ‘racer’ (agent noun from the poetic weak verb skæva ‘hurry’) or ‘one who lifts his legs high’ (so Sturtevant 1948, 129). According to Anon Kálfv 1/7-8, Skævaðr is the horse of Helgi Haddingjaskati (see Note there). See also Þul Hesta 1/6. — [3] Blakkr knátti bera Þegn ‘Blakkr carried Þegn’: Þegn may be a pers. n. here, otherwise ‘thane, retainer’. Cf. Rþ 24/4 where Þegn is a son of Karl (see also þegnar pl., Þul Manna 2/1 and Note there, as well as Goetting 2006). According to Anon Kálfv 3/1, however, Blakkr belonged to a man named Bjǫrn and hence it is possible that þegn is a common noun in the present context (‘Blakkr carried a thane’, that thane being Bjǫrn). In LaufE, each word in this line is taken as the name of a horse (Þegn, Knati, Blakkr, Beri). — [3] Blakkr: Lit. ‘black one’ or ‘dun-coloured one’ (m.). This denotes a pale-coloured horse (see also Þul Hesta 3/5). It is a substantivised form of the adj. blakkr ‘pale’. In ms. U Þegn is rendered as ‘oþen’ (= Óðin?) and Blakkr as á baki: Óðin knátti á baki bera ‘carried Óðinn (?) on its back’, and the horse doing so must have been one of the three horses mentioned in ll. 1-2. Blakkr is used frequently in poetry as a heiti for ‘horse’. — [4] Silfrtoppr ok Sinir ‘Silfrtoppr and Sinir’: These are horses owned by the Æsir. The same pair is found in Grí 30/3 (NK 63) as Silfrintoppr oc Sinir (the variant reading Silfrintoppr (ms. ‘Silrintoppr’) is also recorded in the U version of Þorgþ I) and again in Þul Hesta 1/5. None of these horse-heiti appears in skaldic verse, however. The names translate as ‘silver-forelock’ (cf. Gulltoppr ‘gold-forelock’, st. 1/5) and ‘sinewy one’ (from sin f. ‘sinew’). The Tˣ variant Sinir has been adopted by other eds since it is also recorded in Grí 30/3 (see above) and in the list of horses of the gods in Gylf (ms. R, SnE 2005, 17). The LaufE variant Snjár lit. ‘snow’ may represent an attempt to make sense of a scribal error (cf. the A variant ‘sínarr’). — [5] Fáks ‘Fákr’: In Anon Kálfv 1/4 Fákr is the horse of Haki, a legendary sea-king (see Þul Sækonunga 2/7 and Þul Sea-kings l. 8). The name probably means ‘swift one’ (perhaps related to ODan. fage (adj.) ‘swift’, so Sturtevant 1924-5, 43-5; for other possible cognates, see AEW: fákr). In poetry fákr denotes ‘horse’ in general, but here, along with other horse-heiti listed in this poem, it must be a proper name. Kock (Skald) is obviously mistaken when he treats fákr in this line as a common noun. See also Þul Hesta 2/1. — [6] Gullfaxi ok Jór með goðum ‘Gullfaxi and Jór with the gods’: As told in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 20, 22), Gullfaxi (lit. ‘gold-maned one’) originally belonged to the giant Hrungnir, but after having killed Hrungnir, the god Þórr decided to give the horse to his own son Magni. Unlike the second element of this cpd ‑faxi (from fax n. ‘mane’), which is often used as a poetic simplex for ‘horse’, the cpd Gullfaxi is never used as a common noun in skaldic verse. In Þul Hesta 1/2 the name is given as Gullinfaxi ‘golden-maned one’ (from the adj. gullinn; cf. the variants Silfrtoppr and Silfrintoppr, l. 4 above). Jór m. is a poetic term for ‘stallion’ which is also recorded in Þul Hesta 3/7, but attested as a proper name only in Þorgþ.

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. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
7. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
8. 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.
9. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
10. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. Goetting, Lauren. 2006. ‘Þegn and drengr in the Viking Age’. SS 78, 375-404.
13. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. Sturtevant, Albert Morey. 1948. ‘The Derivations of Old Norse Hǫlkvir and Fǫlkvir, Poetic Designations for horse’. MLN 63, 128-30.
15. Sturtevant, Albert Morey. 1924-5. ‘Old Norse Semasiological and Etymological Notes’. SS 8, 37-47.
16. Internal references
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 19 April 2024)
18. (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 19 April 2024)
19. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Þorgrímsþula I’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 669. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1043> (accessed 19 April 2024)
20. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for sea-kings’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 987. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1045> (accessed 19 April 2024)
21. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 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. 664.
22. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 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. 666.
23. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 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. 667.
24. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga 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. 680.
25. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Manna 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. 776.
26. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða 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. 791.
27. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxna 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. 887.
28. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta 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. 935.
29. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta 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. 936.
30. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta heiti 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. 937.
31. 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.
32. Not published: do not cite (HSt Sk^I)
33. Not published: do not cite ()
34. Not published: do not cite ()
35. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hesta 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. 935. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3236> (accessed 19 April 2024)
36. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 19 April 2024)