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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þul Þorgþ II 1III

Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Þorgrímsþula II 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. 675.

Anonymous ÞulurÞorgrímsþula II1

text and translation

Gamalla øxna nǫfn         hefk gǫrla fregit:
þeira Rauðs ok Hœfis,         Rekinn ok Kýrr,
Himinhrjóðr ok Apli,         Arfr ok Arfuni.

Hefk gǫrla fregit nǫfn gamalla øxna: þeira Rauðs ok Hœfis, Rekinn ok Kýrr, Himinhrjóðr ok Apli, Arfr ok Arfuni.
 
‘I have learned precisely the names of ancient oxen: of Rauðr and Hœfir, Rekinn and Kýrr, Himinhrjóðr and Apli, Arfr ok Arfuni.

notes and context

The first two heiti are in the gen., matching the case of nǫfn gamalla øxna ‘the names of ancient oxen’ (l. 1), and the remaining heiti are in the nom. — In Skj B, Finnur Jónsson (followed by Kock in Skald) renders this stanza in ljóðaháttr metre (see Þorgþ I 2-3 above), emending our ll. 3-4 and giving l. 6 as a full line with internal alliteration:

Gamalla øxna nǫfn,      hefk gǫrla fregit
      þeira Rauðs ok Rekins,
Hœfir ok Hýrr,      Himinhrjóðr ok Apli,
      Arfr ok Arfuni.

This reconstruction has little or no support in the ms. witnesses, and Finnur’s l. 3 appears to be based on his reading of Þul Øxna 1/7, which has the pair rauðr ok rekningr (lit. ‘red one and driven one’). The last heiti in that line, rekningr, is most likely a variant of Rekinn, but that form is not attested in any of the extant mss of Þorgþ II. The present edn follows the metrical arrangement of the mss witnesses, which give the stanza as a sequence of long-lines (so also SnE 1998). To be sure, one of the resulting lines (l. 6) is metrically irregular, and it may be that some of the names in the þula have been moved out of their original positions, but that cannot be ascertained. — [6]: The pattern of alliteration in this line is unmetrical (two alliterating staves in an even line; see Note to [All] above).

readings

sources

Text is based on reconstruction from the base text and variant apparatus and may contain alternative spellings and other normalisations not visible in the manuscript text. Transcriptions may not have been checked and should not be cited.

editions and texts

Skj: Anonyme digte og vers [XII], I. I. [b]. Þulur: Þórgrímsþula b: AI, 650, BI, 656, Skald I, 321, NN §2158A; SnE 1848-87, I, 484, II, 352, 595, SnE 1931, 171, SnE 1998, I, 90, NK 319.

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