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Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Þul Tungls 1III

Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Tungls 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. 912.

Anonymous ÞulurTungls heiti1

Alskír, geisli         ok eyglóa,
máni, Miðgarðr,         mulinn, tungl ok glámr,
skýðir, œki,         skarmr, ártali,
ný, skjalgr, lúna,         nið, fengari.

Alskír, geisli ok eyglóa, máni, Miðgarðr, mulinn, tungl ok glámr, skýðir, œki, skarmr, ártali, ný, skjalgr, lúna, nið, fengari.

All-bright one, beam and ever-glow, moon, Miðgarðr, crescent, moon and twilight, hastener, moving one, one dragging forward, year-counter, waxing moon, squinter, lúna, waning moon, fengari.

Mss: A(20r), B(9v), 744ˣ(83r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Alskír: ‘[…]lskirr’ B, ‘Alskirr’ 744ˣ    [2] eyglóa: ‘ey᷎gl[…]’ B, ‘eýgloe’ 744ˣ    [3] máni: ‘[…]ne’ B, ‘máne’ 744ˣ    [4] mulinn: mulin B;    glámr: ‘[…]ámr’ B, ‘glamr’ 744ˣ    [5] œki: ok B    [6] skarmr: skamr B

Editions: Skj AI, 682-3, Skj BI, 674, Skald I, 338; SnE 1848-87, II, 485, 569.

Notes: [1] alskír (f.) ‘all-bright one’: This word is also found in Alv 16/6 and Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85; SnE 1848-87, II, 460), although it is a heiti for ‘sun’ rather than for ‘moon’ in those sources (see Introduction above). Ms. B has ‑skírr m. (adopted in Skj B and Skald; cf. the C(6r) variant alskírr in the list of heiti for ‘sun’ in Skm, SnE 1848-87, II, 592), which is more appropriate as a heiti for ‘moon’ considering máni m. ‘moon’ (l. 3) and the majority of other masculine names listed here. Ms. A has -skír f., however, which also prevails in the heiti list in Skm (cf. alskír R(37r), (38v), A(14v)) and might have been the original form of this name. In Alv this heiti (given in the acc.) is listed among the names for ‘sun’ in the languages of various mythical beings (Alv 16/6, NK 126): [kalla] alscír ása synir ‘the sons of the Æsir [call it] all-bright one’. — [2] eyglóa (f.) ‘ever-glow’: According to Alv, where this word has the form eygló, this is the name for ‘sun’ among the giants (Alv 16/4, NK 126): [kalla] eygló iǫtnar ‘the giants [call it] ever-glow’. As a sun-heiti, eyglóa is also listed in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85) alongside alskír ‘all-bright one’ (see Note to l. 1 and Introduction), but it is not otherwise found in skaldic verse. — [3] máni (m.) ‘moon’: The word is the only term for ‘moon’ that is frequently used in skaldic and eddic poetry. Perhaps this is the reason why, despite the fact that máni is not as commonly found as tungl ‘moon’ in prose, in Alv 14/1 it is attributed to the language of men and not of the gods (see Note to mulinn ‘crescent’, l. 4). — [3] Miðgarðr: Lit. ‘mid-yard’. This is a common Germanic mythological name for the abode of men, the earth. As a heiti for ‘moon’, Miðgarðr does not occur elsewhere. — [4] mulinn (m.) ‘crescent’: The quality and quantity of the root vowel are uncertain (for details, see ÍO: múlinn, mýlinn). Alv 14/1-2 (NK 126) has the variant mylinn: Máni heitir með mǫnnom, | enn mylinn með goðom ‘It is called máni among men but mylinn among the gods’. Güntert (1921, 143) explains mýlinn as ‘fiery’ (cf. Lat. mulleus ‘red, crimson’), but cf. mylir a tvngli ‘covers the moon’ ( II, 90; otherwise the weak verb mýla is attested in the sense ‘muzzle’). According to Alexander Jóhannesson (1927, 47), the correct form of the word is mulinn (from muli, moli ‘small particle’). If so, the heiti probably denotes the moon on the wane (AEW: múlinn, mýlinn; LP: mulinn glossed as aftagende ‘waning’; SnE 1998, II, 358: ‘horned’). Other than in the present þula and in Alv 14/2, the word occurs once in C14th skaldic poetry (Árni Gd 63/3IV). In Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85), possibly due to confusion of the two lists of heiti, mylin (f.; cf. the variants ‘mysen’ R(37r), C(6r), ‘mylen’ (38v), ‘mylin’ A(14v)) is found among the names for ‘sun’, while mulinn (m.) is given as a term for ‘moon’ (cf. the variants there: ‘mvlenn’ R(37r), ‘mulenn’ (38v), ‘mvlinn mylinn’ U(36v), ‘mvsinn’ C(6r), but ‘mylinn’ in A(14v)). — [4] glámr (m.) ‘twilight’: Although there is no evidence that this word was used in poetry as a heiti for ‘moon’, the Shetland Norn word glom(er) ‘moon, pale light’ shows that glámr as a moon-heiti was no invention of the þulur (cf. also ModIcel. glámur ‘a horse with a white blaze on the forehead’, OE glōm, glōmung ‘twilight’, ModEngl. gloom; AEW: glámr). The word is also found among names of giants (see Þul Jǫtna II 1/8), but Glámr is most famous as Grettir Ásmundarson’s adversary in Gr (chs 32-5, ÍF 7, 107-23). — [5] skýðir (m.) ‘hastener’: A hap. leg. The meaning of this heiti is uncertain. It could be related to OE scūðan ‘hurry’, Old Church Slavonic skytati sę ‘wander’ (ÍO: skýðir), and that meaning has been adopted in the present edn. All mss of Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85) have (normalised) skyndir ‘hastener’ here, which could be a lectio facilior. — [5] œki (m.) ‘moving one’: A hap. leg. The word is derived either from the strong verb aka ‘move, drive’ or from the strong verb auka ‘augment, increase’, hence ‘waxing’ (see AEW: æki). The heiti is not recorded in Skm. — [6] skarmr (m.) ‘one dragging forward’: The word is otherwise attested in the same form only in the preceding prose list of heiti for ‘moon’ in the A version of Skm (SnE 1848-87, II, 460). This is an obscure word. The name could be related to the weak verb skarma ‘drag oneself along’ (AEW: skarmr) or to the strong verb skera ‘cut’ and, if so, denote the waning moon. But it is also possible to connect it with ModSwed. dialects skärm ‘light in the sky’ (see ÍO: skarm(u)r). Alternatively, the correct form may be ‘skamr’ (so B, and adopted in Skj B and Skald), in this case probably = skammr ‘short’ (adj.). Cf. also sk<r>ámr among the heiti for ‘moon’ in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85; so (38v) ‘scramr’, U(36v), C(6r) ‘skramr’, while R(37r) has ‘skamr’), which Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 394) tentatively explains as ‘glarer, dazzler’ or ‘pale one’. — [6] ártali (m.) ‘year-counter’: In Alv, this is the name for ‘moon’ in the language of the elves (Alv 14/6, NK 126): kalla álfar ártala ‘the elves call it ártali’. It is also recorded in the list in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85), but as a heiti for ‘moon’ the word does not occur elsewhere. See also Þul Hrafns 2/3. — [7] (n.) ‘waxing moon’: A term for the waxing or even the full moon (see CVC: ), and the opposite of nið ‘waning moon’ (l. 8) (cf. ModIcel. nið ‘pitch darkness’). The alliterative pair ný oc nið ‘full moon and no moon’ or ‘waxing moon and waning moon’ is found in Vafþr 25/4 (NK 49). Neither word occurs in skaldic poetry. — [7] skjalgr (m.) ‘squinter’: The crescent moon (cf. the adj. skjálgr ‘wry, oblique’; see SnE 1998, II, 392). The heiti is also found in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85), but it does not occur in other poetic sources. — [7] lúna: I.e. Lat. lūna. In Old Norse, the word is not attested elsewhere, but it is used in the later rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: lúna). In a number of the þulur which are only recorded in mss A and B, the list of heiti is augmented with Latin and Greek words possibly borrowed from school lexical glosses (see Clunies Ross 1987, 86 and Introduction to Anon Þulur). — [8] nið (n.) ‘waning moon’: See Note to ‘waxing moon’ (l. 7 above). — [8] fengari (m.): This must be a foreign word, cf. Byzantine Greek φεγγάριον ‘moon’ and Gk φέγγος ‘light’ (AEW, ÍO: fengari; see also Note to l. 7 and Introduction to Anon Þulur). Other than in the present þula, the word is also recorded in the list of heiti for moon in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 85; SnE 1848-87, II, 460, 592), but it is not found in any other Old Norse source.

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
  6. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
  7. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
  8. = Kålund, Kristian and Natanael Beckman. 1908-18. Alfræði íslenzk: Islandsk encyklopædisk litteratur. 3 vols. SUGNL 37, 41 and 45. Copenhagen: Møller.
  9. Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1987. Skáldskaparmál: Snorri Sturluson’s ars poetica and Medieval Theories of Language. VC 4. [Odense]: Odense University Press.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
  13. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  14. ÍF 7 = Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. Ed. Guðni Jónsson. 1936.
  15. Güntert, Hermann. 1921. Von der Sprache der Götter und Geister. Halle (Saale): Niemeyer.
  16. Alexander Jóhannesson. 1927. Die Suffixe im Isländischen. Sonderdruck aus Árbók Háskóla Íslands 1927. Halle (Saale): Niemeyer.
  17. Internal references
  18. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar’ 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. 640-806. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=70> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  19. Not published: do not cite (GrettV)
  20. (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 28 March 2024)
  21. 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.
  22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hrafns 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. 946.
  23. Not published: do not cite (Árni Gd 63IV)
  24. Not published: do not cite ()
  25. Not published: do not cite ()
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