Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fjarða 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. 983.
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fjǫrðr (noun m.): fjord
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Sogn (noun m.): Sogn-
[1] Sogn ‘Sognefjorden’: The longest Norwegian fjord, located in Sunnmøre, western Norway.
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Jali (noun m.): Jali
[1] Jali: According to Rygh (1896, 30 n. 3), Jali could have been an old name for Mossesundet in Oslofjorden, the strait which separates Jeløya (Jǫlund; see Þul Eyja 7/4), an island near Moss in Østfold, south-eastern Norway, from the mainland. Munch (1846, 84) identified it as a fjord in the Shetland Islands, namely Yell Sound, the strait between the Shetland mainland and the island of Yell (so also LP: Jali; see Jala ‘Yell’, Þul Eyja 4/8). If the latter interpretation is correct, this would be the only fjord outside Norway listed in this þula.
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fold (noun f.): land
[2] Fold ‘Oslofjorden’: A large bay in south-eastern Norway. Cf. fold ‘land, a field of soft grass’ (CVC: fold, see also Þul Jarðar 1/5). As the name of a fjord, fold perhaps originally meant ‘broad one’ (cf. AEW, ÍO: fold).
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Ófóti (noun m.): [Ofotfjorden]
[2] Ófóti ‘Ofotfjorden’: The longest fjord in Nordland, northern Norway. The origin of the name is unclear (cf. ÍO: Ófóti). See also Note to Þul Jǫtna II 2/6.
[3] Angr: In Old Norse local names the ending ‑angr was frequently used to denote ‘bay’ or ‘fjord’ (cf. Harðangr, Stafangr, Heyjangr in ll. 5, 6; ÍO: ang(u)r 1). There is no etymological relation between this word and angr m. ‘grief’ (see the Note above); hence it is impossible to say whether it is used here as a common noun (‘bay, fjord’) or as a p. n. In poetry angr occurs in a kenning for ‘gold’ (HaukrV Ísldr 15/7-8IV) of the type eldr allra vatna ‘fire of all kinds of water’ (SnE 1998, I, 40), which, along with all sorts of sea-heiti, permitted the use of place names belonging to various rivers and fjords qualified by a term for ‘fire’. Finnur Jónsson treats Angr as a p. n. (LP: Angr 2), identifying it as the name of a branch of Hardangerfjorden. According to Munch (1846, 84), ON Angr was the name of several fjords in Norway, among them Sandesognsfjorden (present-day Sandebukta), a branch of Oslofjorden in Vestfold, where he found the name Angerskleven, the old main road that runs past the town of Holmestrand (cf. also Angersnes in Nordland, northern Norway). However that may be, Anger (< ON Angr) is no longer used as a fjord-name in Norway.
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Harmr (noun m.): Velfjorden
[3] Harmr ‘Velfjorden’: A fjord in the southern part of Hålogaland, northern Norway, most likely modern Velfjorden (Rygh 1896, 32) or Brønnøyfjorden in Nord-Trøndelag (Munch 1846, 84). See also Bkrepp Magndr 2/4II.
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tregi (noun m.; °-a; -ar): sorrow
[3] Tregi: According to Munch (1846, 84), Tregi must be Tregdefjorden near Mandal (cf. the old name Tregðasund) in Vest-Agder, southern Norway, but Rygh (1896, 35 n.) doubts that this identification is correct. The name does not occur in other poetic sources.
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Eitri (noun m.): [Eiterfjorden]
[4] Eitri ‘Eiterfjorden’: Located in Nærøy in Nord-Trøndelag, north-western Norway. Perhaps lit. ‘very cold one’ (see also Eitri in Þul Dverga 6/6 and Note; in RE 1665(Ff) the name is given as ‘Eitur’). Old Norse eitr (n.) means ‘poison’.
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Vefsnir (noun m.): [Vefsnfjorden]
[4] Vefsnir ‘Vefsnfjorden’: Located in Hålogaland, northern Norway, north of Tjøtta (see Þul Eyja 3/7). This fjord-name is derived from Vefsn, the name of a river, lit. ‘twisting one’, cf. vefa ‘weave’ (ÍO: Vefsnir).
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Harðangr (noun m.; °; -ir): [Hardangerfjorden]
[5] Harðangr ‘Hardangerfjorden’: Lit. ‘bay of the Hǫrðar’ (on the meaning of -angr see Note to l. 3 above). This is the second largest fjord in Norway, located south of Bergen in Hardanger, Hordaland, western Norway.
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Stafangr (noun m.): Stavanger
[5] Stafangr: No longer in use as a fjord-name. Rygh (1896, 34) believed that it could be a small fjord near the town of Stavanger.
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Heyjangr (noun m.): [Høyangsfjorden]
[6] Heyjangr ‘Høyangsfjorden’: A fjord branching off to the north from Sognefjorden, western Norway.
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
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glaumr (noun m.): noise
[6] Glaumr ‘Glomfjorden’: Perhaps lit. ‘noise’. A small fjord located in Hålogaland, northern Norway.
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Goðmarr (noun m.): Gullmarn, Gullmaren
[7] Goðmarr ‘Gullmarn’: Lit. ‘sea of the gods’. Located in present-day Bohuslän, western Sweden (then a part of Norway); cf. Tindr Hákdr 11/4I.
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Harðsær (noun m.): [Korsfjorden]
[7] Harðsær ‘Korsfjorden’: Lit. ‘sea of the Hǫrðar’ (cf. Harðangr, l. 5 above). Located in Sunnhordland, south of Sotra near Bergen. The modern name of the fjord is attested as early as the C16th.
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Grenmarr (noun m.): [Langesundsfjorden]
[8] Grenmarr ‘Langesundsfjorden’: Lit. ‘sea of the Grenir’, Lat. Granii, a Norse tribe mentioned by Jordanes (Getica §24; see Andersson 1998a, 589). That tribe inhabited Grenland, a territory in south-eastern Norway located between Vestfold and Telemark. Grenmarr is known above all as the site of the famous naval battle of Nesjar, in which Óláfr Haraldsson defeated Jarl Sveinn Hákonarson and his allies (see ÓHHkr chs 46-50, ÍF 27, 58-67; Sigv NesvI).
[8] Hroði: Lit. ‘stormy one’. This fjord has not been identified. Munch (1846, 85) suggested that it might be Rosfjorden in Lyngdal in Vest-Agder, south-western Norway, but this identification has been disputed (Rygh 1896, 35 n. 1). As a fjord-heiti the name does not occur elsewhere, but see hroði ‘storm’ in Egill St 8/5V (Eg 79) and hroði ‘coarseness’ in Anon Mhkv 29/6.
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Most of the Old Norse fjord-names listed in this stanza have been replaced in the course of time and often by quite different place names. In all instances where their modern equivalents are known these are given in the translation. — [3]: All the names contained in this line (ON Angr, Harmr, Tregi) have the same meaning (‘grief, sorrow’), and their occurrence in the same line is hardly accidental.
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