Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Þul Dœgra 1III

Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dœgra 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. 914.

Anonymous ÞulurDœgra heiti1

Dœgr, hlýrn ok røkr,         díes ok lýsing,
dagr, nótt, svefngaman         ok draum-Njǫrun,
nox, nis, gríma,         njól, myrkfara,
óljós, draum-Vǫr,         émispéríum.

Dœgr, hlýrn ok røkr, díes ok lýsing, dagr, nótt, svefngaman ok draum-Njǫrun, nox, nis, gríma, njól, myrkfara, óljós, draum-Vǫr, émispéríum.

Day and night, sky-light and twilight, dies and daybreak, day, night, dream-joy and dream-Njǫrun <goddess>, nox, nis, mask, darkness, dusk-farer, dark one, dream-Vǫr <goddess>, hemisphere.

Mss: A(20r), B(9v), 744ˣ(83r-v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Dœgr: ‘[…]e᷎gr’ B;    hlýrn: so B, ‘hyrn’ A;    røkr: ‘ro᷎ckr’ B    [2] díes: ‘d[…]’ B, dagr 744ˣ    [3] dagr nótt: díes nox B    [4] draum‑Njǫrun: ‘dro᷎m nío᷎run’ B    [5] nox: nótt B    [7] óljós draum‑Vǫr: ‘ol[…]dr[…]vo᷎[…]’ B, ‘ólíos draumvo᷎r’ 744ˣ    [8] émispéríum: ‘eimspernim’ A, ‘e[…]’ B, ‘emispū. .’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 683, Skj BI, 674, Skald I, 338, NN §30; SnE 1848-87, II, 485, 569.

Notes: [1] hlýrn (n.) ‘sky-light’: This poetic name most likely denotes not a certain time of day but rather heavenly bodies, the sun and the moon (cf. hlýrnir as a heaven-heiti in Þul Himins I l. 13, Þul Himins II l. 7, Ólsv Kristdr 2/3), and it is recorded in Þul Dœgra owing to the natural connection with day and night (so LP: hlýrn). According to de Vries (AEW: hlýrn), the word may mean ‘pair of twins; brother and sister’, as hlýrn appears to be related to hlýri m. ‘brother’. In Old Norse myth, the Sun and the Moon are a brother and sister who were placed in the sky by the gods (Gylf, SnE 2005, 13 and Skm, SnE 1998, I, 39). On the connection between hlýrn and hlýr ‘cheek’, see ÍO: hlýrn. — [2] díes: A Latin word for ‘day’. Other Latin and Greek words in this þula are nox, nis (= Gk νύξ) ‘night’ (l. 5), émispéríum ‘hemisphere’ (l. 8). On the foreign words in the þulur, see Note to Þul Tungls l. 7 and Introduction to Anon Þulur. — [3] svefngaman (n.) ‘dream-joy’: This is the term for ‘night’ in the language of the elves in Alv 30/5 (NK 128): [kalla] álfar svefngaman ‘the elves [call it] dream-joy’. The word does not occur elsewhere (but it is recorded in both LaufE and RE 1665 as well). — [4] draum-Njǫrun ‘dream-Njǫrun <goddess>’: This is the name for ‘night’ among the dwarfs in Alv 30/6 (NK 128): kalla dvergar draumniǫrun ‘the dwarfs call it dream-Njǫrun’. For Njǫrun, a goddess, see Note to Þul Ásynja 1/8. This heiti is not found in other sources (but it is included in the lists in LaufE and RE 1665). — [5] nox, nis: See Note to l. 2 above. — [5] gríma (f.) ‘mask’: A poetic term for ‘night’. In Alv 30/3 (NK 128), gríma is the name for ‘night’ among the gods (ginregin). This metaphorical sense must have been derived from the meaning of the word in the common language, ‘mask’ (i.e. a kind of hood or cowl covering the upper part of the face); hence the night is characterised as mysterious and concealing. The word is also recorded as a heiti for ‘troll-woman’ and ‘helmet’ (Þul Trollkvenna 1/6, Þul Hjálms 2/3; cf. also Óðinn’s names Grímnir and Grímr, Þul Óðins 1/7, 3/1). — [6] njól (f.) ‘darkness’: Or njóla f. (Skm, SnE 1998, I, 99; both forms are f.). In Alv 30/2 (NK 128), njól is the term for ‘night’ með goðom ‘among the gods’. The word is perhaps related to nifl ‘mist, fog’ (cf. OHG nebul ‘mist’; see Güntert 1921, 148 and AEW: njól, njóla). — [6] myrkfara (f.) ‘dusk-farer’: Other than in the present list, the word appears only in LaufE and RE 1665. The name perhaps means ‘one that comes with the darkness’, and hence it is a heiti for ‘night’. — [7] óljós ‘dark one’: Lit. ‘unlight one’, the word is the substantivised f. adj. from óljóss. In Alv 30/4, the word is given as the term for ‘night’ among the giants, and it also occurs in LaufE and RE 1665 but it is not recorded elsewhere as a heiti for ‘night’. — [7] draum-Vǫr ‘dream-Vǫr <goddess>’: A hap. leg. Vǫr is a goddess (see Þul Ásynja 2/4 and Þul Kvenna II 3/5; cf. draum-Njǫrun ‘dream-Njǫrun’, l. 4 above). This name for ‘night’ might also be interpreted as ‘dream-guarding one’ (from the f. adj. vǫr ‘wary, careful’). — [8] émispéríum ‘hemisphere’: Spelled ‘eimspernim’ in A (= Lat. hemisphaerium). This learned term is found elsewhere in glosses and scientific treatises and may have been borrowed from Old English, where it appears in a C8th or C9th glossary accorded the sense semis circulus ‘semi-circle’ and aer ‘air’ (Hessels 1890, 47), and in the late C10th Ramsey monk Byrhtferð’s Enchiridion (Baker and Lapidge 1995, 150) in a diagram illustrating the phases of the moon. As the explanations of this word in Old English glosses (semis circulus, aer) suggest, it cannot be excluded that the term might originally have belonged to the next þula (Þul Himins II), which lists heiti for ‘heaven’.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. 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.
  3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 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. 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.
  8. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
  9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
  11. Güntert, Hermann. 1921. Von der Sprache der Götter und Geister. Halle (Saale): Niemeyer.
  12. Hessels, Jan Hendrik. 1890. An Eight-Century Latin-Anglo-Saxon Glossary, preserved in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (ms. no. 144). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  13. Internal references
  14. (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)
  15. (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 28 March 2024)
  16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna 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. 724.
  17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja 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. 763.
  18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja 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. 765.
  19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 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. 732.
  20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hjálms 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. 830.
  21. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kvenna heiti ókend 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. 963.
  22. Not published: do not cite ()
  23. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Himins heiti 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. 905. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3217> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  24. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Tungls 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. 911. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3230> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  25. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Dœgra 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. 914. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3231> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  26. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Himins heiti II’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 916. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3232> (accessed 28 March 2024)
  27. Edith Marold (ed.) 2017, ‘Óláfr svartaskáld Leggsson, Kristsdrápa 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. 315.
  28. (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 28 March 2024)
Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close

Stanza/chapter/text segment

Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.

Information tab

Interactive tab

The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.

Full text tab

This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.

Chapter/text segment

This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.