Þul Øxna 1^III

Enn skal segja         øxna heiti:
árvakr, drjóni         ok jǫrmunrekr,
simi, Freyr, Reginn,         smiðr, eyþvari,
Rauðr ok rekningr         ok røkkvihliðr,
viggi, bautuðr,         Vingnis stjóri.

Enn skal segja heiti øxna: árvakr, drjóni ok jǫrmunrekr, simi, Freyr, Reginn, smiðr, eyþvari, Rauðr ok rekningr ok røkkvihliðr, viggi, bautuðr, stjóri Vingnis.

In addition I shall say names for oxen: alert one, bellower and jǫrmunrekr, simi, Freyr, Reginn, smith, island-borer, Rauðr and driven one and røkkvihliðr, viggi, striker, Vingnir’s guide.

Mss: R(44r), Tˣ(46r), C(13r), A(20r), B(9r-v), 744ˣ(79r-v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Enn skal segja: Ek man skýra A, ‘[…]k mun skýra’ B, Ek mun skýra 744ˣ;    Enn: Ek C;    segja: telja C    [2] øxna heiti: fyrir skata mengi allramligra yxna heiti A, skata mengi allramligra øxna heiti B;    øxna: yxna C    [3] árvakr: árvǫrðr A, B    [4] ok: om. Tˣ    [5] simi: ‘sune’ B    [7] ok: om. Tˣ    [8] ok: om. Tˣ;    ‑hliðr: ‑liðr C, A, B    [9] viggi: ‘vigi’ B;    bautuðr: so B, ‘bꜹrvðr’ R, ‘baurudr’ Tˣ, ‘baurrudr’ C, bautaðr A    [10] Vingnis: vingnir A, B

Editions: Skj AI, 675, Skj BI, 669, Skald I, 334, NN §2158B; SnE 1848-87, I, 586-7, II, 483, 566, 625, SnE 1931, 210, SnE 1998, I, 130.

Notes: [All]: None of the heiti for ‘oxen’ listed in this stanza is found in poetry and many are not attested elsewhere. — [1-2]: See Introduction above. — [3] árvakr (m.) ‘alert one’: Or ‘one who is awake early’. This heiti is known from other sources as the mythical name of one of the horses of the Sun (see Þul Hesta 3/4 and Note there). As an ox-heiti the name occurs only in the present þula. The A, B variant árvǫrðr ‘early-guardian’ is not attested elsewhere. — [3] drjóni (m.) ‘bellower’: A hap. leg. This heiti probably means ‘bellower’ (from the same root as OE drēam ‘joy’, OS drōm ‘rejoicing’; so Holthausen 1942, 275; see also AEW: drjóni). — [4] jǫrmunrekr: Otherwise the Old Norse name of the Gothic king, Ermanaric the Great (d. 375; see Bragi Rdr 3, Note to [All]). As a heiti for ‘ox’ the word occurs only in the present stanza. The first element in the cpd (jǫrmun-) is an intensifier and the second (-rekr) is either derived from the strong verb reka ‘chase, drive away’ or it is the same as ON rekkr m. ‘man, warrior’ (since the second element in the pers. n. was associated with ‑rekkr ‘man’; see AEW: Jǫrmunr, Jǫrmunrekr). Jǫrmunrekr would then mean either ‘mighty driver’ or ‘mighty warrior’. — [5] simi: An obscure word not found elsewhere. Cf. simir (st. 2/1), simull (st. 2/4) and forsimi (st. 2/6). — [5] Freyr: As an ox-name Freyr is mentioned only in this list. The heiti could reflect the relations between Freyr as the god of fertility and one of the animals dedicated to him (cf. the stories in Víga-Glúms saga ch. 9, ÍF 9, 34 and Brandkrossa þáttr ch. 1, ÍS III, 2102, in which oxen are sacrificed to Freyr; see Turville-Petre 1964, 168). — [5] Reginn: It is impossible to say whether there is any connection between this ox-heiti and the name of the legendary dwarf and smith Reginn. Alternatively, this word could be interpreted as a m. derivative of ON regin n. pl. ‘gods’, hence possibly ‘potent one’. It is more likely, however, that the original heiti was the ox-name Rekinn ‘driven one’ mentioned in Anon Þorgþ II l. 4 (see Note there; see also rekningr ‘driven one’ in l. 7 below), and that this heiti was confused with the name of the smith Reginn, possibly influenced by the next heiti in this stanza, smiðr ‘smith’ (l. 6). — [6] smiðr (m.) ‘smith’: In the present þula, this heiti could perhaps mean ‘maker, creator’. As a name for ‘ox’ the word occurs only in this list, but cf. eikismiðr (st. 2/8 below). — [6] eyþvari (m.) ‘island-borer’: The first element in eyþvari is either ey f. ‘island’ or the adv. ey ‘always, continually’, and the second is þvari m. ‘gimlet, bit, drill’. The cpd is not found elsewhere. — [7] Rauðr ok rekningr ‘Rauðr and driven one’: Cf. Rauðs ok … Rekinn in Anon Þorgþ II ll. 3-4 (see Note there). The name Rauðr translates as ‘red one’ (cf. the adj. rauðr ‘red’), and the second heiti, rekningr m. (from the strong verb reka ‘chase, drive away’), is most likely a variant of Rekinn in Anon Þorgþ II (see also Note to Reginn in l. 5 above). None of these heiti for ‘ox’ is known from other sources. — [8] røkkvihliðr (m.): A hap. leg. whose meaning is unclear. It is also possible that we are dealing with two names here, røkkvi m. ‘dark one’ and hliðr ‘ox’ (see the latter word in st. 2/5 below). — [9] viggi (m.): Several interpretations of this hap. leg. have been suggested. It could be related to the strong verb vega ‘fight’ (hence, lit. ‘fighter’). See also AEW: vigg. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 428) suggests the meaning ‘wedged’, referring to the shape of a bull’s horns, but he provides no explanation in support of that translation. Cf. also vigg ‘horse’ in Þul Hesta 2/7, as well as Note to Anon Þorgþ I 2/1. — [9] bautuðr (m.) ‘striker’: So B (the R, Tˣ, C variants ‘bꜹrvðr’, ‘baurudr’ and ‘baurruðr’ must have been caused by a scribal error at some point in the ms. transmission). Bautuðr is also listed among the heiti for ‘horse’ in mss A and B (see Note to Þul Hesta 3/7), but the word does not occur elsewhere. According to de Vries (AEW: bauta(ða)rsteinn, bautuðr), this was originally an ox-heiti, since an ox strikes with its horns. — [10] stjóri Vingnis ‘Vingnir’s guide’: The name could allude to a lost legend. Alternatively, Vingnir m. and stjóri m. may be two separate heiti (so mss A and B, and adopted in Skj B and Skald). Vingnir is also a giant’s name, as well as a name for Óðinn and Þórr (Þul Jǫtna I 5/8, Þul Óðins 5/8). As to stjóri ‘leader, guide’, Kock (NN §2158B) argues that, despite possible associations with the weak verb stýra ‘steer, guide’, in the present context the word is a weak form of ON stjórr m. ‘steer, young bull’ (cf. OE steor, Goth. stiur, ModGer. Stier ‘bull’).

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. Turville-Petre, Gabriel. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
8. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. ÍF 9 = Eyfirðinga sǫgur. Ed. Jónas Kristjánsson. 1956.
11. ÍS = Bragi Halldórsson et al., eds. 1987. Íslendinga sögur og þættir. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Svart á hvítu.
12. Holthausen, Ferdinand. 1942. ‘Etymologisches und Grammatisches’. BGDSL 66, 265-75.
13. Internal references
14. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Víga-Glúms saga’ 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. 1374-1398. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=27> (accessed 26 April 2024)
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Þorgrímsþula I 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. 672.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti I 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. 715.
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 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. 743.
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta 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. 936.
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta 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. 937.
20. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa 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. 31.
21. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Þorgrímsþula 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. 675. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3181> (accessed 26 April 2024)
22. Not published: do not cite ()