Þul Sverða 1^III

Ek mun segja         sverða heiti:
hjǫrr ok Hrotti,         hǫguðr, Dragvandill,
gróa, Gramr, gellir,         gjallr ok neðanskarðr,
sigðr ok Snyrtir,         sómi, skjómi.

Ek mun segja heiti sverða: hjǫrr ok Hrotti, hǫguðr, Dragvandill, gróa, Gramr, gellir, gjallr ok neðanskarðr, sigðr ok Snyrtir, sómi, skjómi.

I shall say the names of swords: sword and Hrotti, useful one, Dragvandill, growing one, Gramr, yeller, clamouring one and end-notched one, sickle and Snyrtir, honour, glimmer.

Mss: R(42v), Tˣ(44v), C(12r), A(18v), B(8v), 744ˣ (SnE)

Readings: [1] Ek: ‘[…]k’ B, Ek 744ˣ    [3] ok: om. Tˣ    [4] hǫguðr: ‘haugudr’ Tˣ, C, hǫgguðr B    [5] gellir: om. C, gillir A, B    [6] gjallr: ‘giallrun’ C, gjallarr A, gjalarr B;    neðanskarðr: neðanskarði B    [7] ok: om. Tˣ    [8] sómi skjómi: skjómi sómi Tˣ, ‘so[…] ok skíomí’ B, ‘somi ok skíomí’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 662, Skj BI, 663, Skald I, 327, SnE 1848-87, I, 563, II, 476, 559, 619, SnE 1931, 200, SnE 1998, I, 118.

Notes: [3] hjǫrr (m.) ‘sword’: An old poetic term for ‘sword’ (cf. OE heoru ‘sword’). — [3] Hrotti: The name of several legendary swords and a poetic term for ‘sword’ in general. Cf. Fáfnir’s sword (see Fáfn prose (NK 188) and Vǫls 1965, 34), Hervarðr Arngrímsson’s sword (Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, FSN I, 416), as well as OE Hrunting, the name of Unferð’s sword in Beowulf (for the latter, see Beowulf 2008, 470 and references there). The meaning of Hrotti is not clear. It may have meant ‘branch, staff’ (so ÍO: hrotti 1), or it could have been derived from the strong verb hrinda (pret. hratt) ‘push, kick, throw’. — [4] hǫguðr (m.) ‘useful one’: An agent noun from the weak verb haga ‘manage, succeed’; cf. hagna ‘be suitable, succeed’ and Hǫgnuðr, the name of a magic wand (stafsproti) in Vatnsdæla saga (ch. 44, ÍF 8, 120 and n. 2; see also Falk 1914b, 53). The B variant, hǫgguðr lit. ‘killer, striker’ (so also the LaufE mss), suggests a connection with hǫgg n. ‘stroke, blow’ and the strong verb hǫggva ‘strike, behead’. Hǫguðr is not attested elsewhere as a heiti for ‘sword’, and neither is the B variant hǫgguðr. — [4] Dragvandill: Perhaps lit. ‘draw-wand’. This is the name of a sword originally belonging to the legendary king of the Saami, Gusi(r), and later owned by a succession of saga-heroes including Ketill hœngr, Skallagrímr and Egill (FSN II, 122 etc.; Eg chs 61, 64-5, ÍF 2, 195, 204, 209-10). The word is used in poetry only as a proper name and never as a common noun. All mss give the form Dragvandill here, while other prose and poetic sources have either ‑vandill or ‑vendill (cf. Egill Lv 35/2^V (Eg 64), Keth Lv 20/1^VIII (Ket 36)). According to Falk (1914b, 63), vendill is a sword-heiti. The variant ‑vandill in Dragvandill may be derived from vǫndr m. ‘wand’ (cf. vǫndull m. ‘wisp’); hence the name would mean ‘a sword which is so long that it is dragged’ (see Falk 1914b, 49), or, perhaps more likely, a sword that is drawn from its scabbard (cf. draga sverð ‘draw a sword’, Heggstad et al. 2008: 1. draga). Falk (1914b, 63) derives ‑vandill/-vendill from an ethnic name (cf. Vandill, Vendill in Jutland and Wendala in Saxo 2005, II, 681). Vandill is also the name of a sea-king and a giant (see Note to Þul Sækonunga 5/2 and Þul Jǫtna II 1/6). — [5] gróa (f.) ‘growing one’: The word is attested only as a f. pers. n. (of a prophetess, Svipdagr’s mother, in Grógaldr 1/1, and of a sorceress, the wife of Aurvandill in Skm, SnE 1998, I, 22). According to Falk (1914b, 51), the f. gender implies that the word ought to be a heiti for ‘axe’, and he believes that it could have been included among the sword-heiti by mistake. — [5] Gramr: Lit. ‘angry one’. The name of Sigurðr’s sword (e.g. Reg prose (NK 177)), used in poetry as a common noun. It is also a poetic term for ‘ruler’ (see Þul Konunga 1/7). — [5] gellir (m.) ‘yeller’: The A, B variant gillir (so also the LaufE mss) has the same meaning. Gellir is an agent noun derived from the weak verb gella ‘cause sth. to ring, resound’ (causative formation from the strong verb gjalla ‘ring, resound’; cf. the next word). The word is also listed among the heiti for ‘ox’ (Þul Øxna 3/5). Gellir is attested in prose as a pers. n. and as a nickname (see Note to Arn Magndr 4/4^II), but the word does not occur elsewhere as a heiti for ‘sword’. — [6] gjallr (m.) ‘clamouring one’: This heiti is also given in Þul Skjaldar 2/1 and Þul Sjóvar 1/5, but aside from a dubious attestation in KormǪ Lv 55/5^V (Korm 76), this poetic adj. is used only with the meaning ‘clamouring, ringing, resounding’ in Old Norse. Gjallr is attested as a heiti for ‘sword’ in the later rímur, however (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: gjallr). — [6] neðanskarðr (m.) ‘end-notched one’: Or ‘one notched from beneath’. An otherwise unattested cpd. See skarðr ‘notched one’ (st. 5/8). — [7] Snyrtir: Lit. ‘polisher’ or ‘polished one’. Bjarki’s sword in Saxo (Saxo 2005, I, 2, 7, 19, pp. 182-3), otherwise known as Laufi (see st. 2/2 below). The name occurs as a poetic term for ‘sword’ in general. According to Falk (1914b, 60), snyrtir is derived from the p. p. snyrtr ‘decorated’ (cf. ModNorw. snyrta ‘embellish’) and may have had the passive meaning ‘decorated one’. — [8] sómi (m.) ‘honour’: Cf. also sómr ‘seemly one’, a heiti for ‘bow’ (Þul Boga l. 4). Neither of these heiti is found in Old Norse poetry, but sómi is found as a heiti for ‘sword’ in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: sómi).

References

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. Finnur Jónsson. 1926-8. Ordbog til de af samfund til udg. af gml. nord. litteratur udgivne Rímur samt til de af Dr. O. Jiriczek udgivne Bósarímur. SUGNL 51. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
6. 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.
7. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
8. ÍF 2 = Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. Ed. Sigurður Nordal. 1933.
9. Beowulf 2008 = Fulk, Robert D., Robert E. Bjork and John D. Niles, eds. 2008. Klaeber’s Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. 4th rev. edn of Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, ed. Fr. Klaeber. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press.
10. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
11. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
14. ÍF 8 = Vatnsdœla saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1939.
15. Vǫls 1965 = Finch, R. G., ed. and trans. 1965. The Saga of the Volsungs. London: Nelson.
16. Internal references
17. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar’ 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, pp. 162-389. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=14> (accessed 19 April 2024)
18. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 19 April 2024)
19. (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)
20. Not published: do not cite (Keth^VIII)
21. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 685.
22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti 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. 719.
23. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Konunga 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. 687.
24. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxna 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. 888.
25. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skjaldar 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. 825.
26. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sjóvar 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. 833.
27. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Magnússdrápa 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 212-13.
28. Not published: do not cite ()
29. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 64 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Lausavísur 35)’ 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. 279.
30. Not published: do not cite ()
31. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Boga 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. 821. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3199> (accessed 19 April 2024)
32. Edith Marold (ed.) 2022, ‘Kormáks saga 76 (Kormákr Ǫgmundarson, Lausavísur 55)’ 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. 1164.
33. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Ketils saga hœngs 36 (Ketill hœngr, Lausavísur 20)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 590.
34. (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)
35. Not published: do not cite ()