Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxna 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. 887.
Himinhrjóðr, simir ok harðfari,
Hœfir, digni, hjǫlluðr, simull,
hliðr, stúfr ok litr, hríðr, forsimi,
Arfr, jǫrmuni ok eikismiðr.
Himinhrjóðr, simir ok harðfari, Hœfir, digni, hjǫlluðr, simull, hliðr, stúfr ok litr, hríðr, forsimi, Arfr, jǫrmuni ok eikismiðr.
Himinhrjóðr, simir and hard-goer, Hœfir, stout one, roarer, simull, hliðr, stump and coloured one, hríðr, forsimi, Arfr, mighty one and eikismiðr.
Mss: R(44r), Tˣ(46r), C(13r), A(20r), B(9v), 744ˣ(79v-80r) (SnE)
Readings: [1] Himinhrjóðr: so C, himinrjótr R, himinhrjótr Tˣ, himinbrjótr A, ‘hriostr’ B; simir: simarr A, B [2] ok: om. Tˣ [3] Hœfir: so C, ‘bevir’ R, ‘begir’ Tˣ, ‘kæfir’ A, ‘kęvir’ B; digni: ‘dirnir’ A, digir B [4] hjǫlluðr: hjǫllr Tˣ, kjǫllurr A, ‘[…]io᷎llurr’ B, ‘kio᷎llurr’ 744ˣ; simull: simul Tˣ, ‘[…]mull’ B, simull 744ˣ [5] ok: om. Tˣ, ‘[…]’ B, ok 744ˣ; litr: ‘lít[…]’ B, litr 744ˣ [6] hríðr: so A, B, hríð R, Tˣ, her‑ C; forsimi: ‘fors[…]’ B, ‘forsine’ 744ˣ [7] Arfr: so A, B, ‘arnr’ R, Tˣ, arn C; jǫrmuni: aurmuni C, jǫrmun B [8] ok: om. Tˣ
Editions: Skj AI, 675, Skj BI, 669, Skald I, 334, NN §2158A; SnE 1848-87, I, 587, II, 483, 566-7, 625-6, SnE 1931, 210, SnE 1998, I, 130.
Notes: [1] Himinhrjóðr: Lit. ‘sky-devastator’. So C. See Note to Anon Þorgþ II l. 5. — [1] simir: As a heiti for ‘ox’ the word does not occur elsewhere and its meaning is unclear, but cf. simi (st. 1/5; see also Note to Þul Hesta 1/5). — [2] harðfari (m.) ‘hard-goer’: A cpd not attested elsewhere (from the adj. harðr ‘hard’ and the strong verb fara ‘go, travel’) — [3] Hœfir: Perhaps lit. ‘hoofed one’. See Note to Anon Þorgþ II l. 3. — [3] digni (m.) ‘stout one’: A hap. leg. that could be connected with the adj. digr ‘stout, fat’ (cf. Goth. *digan ‘knead’, Norw. dialects digne ‘become fat’; cf. AEW: digni). — [4] hjǫlluðr (m.) ‘roarer’: A hap. leg., cf. ON hjala ‘chatter, talk’ (weak verb), OE hiellan, OHG hellan ‘shout’ (AEW: hjǫlluðr). The heiti belongs to the semantic type ‘noise-maker’ which is used frequently in the þulur (Gurevich 1992c, 40-3). Other ox-names of this type in the present list are olgr ‘noise-maker’, gellir ‘yeller’ (st. 3/5) and glymr ‘roar’ (st. 3/6), but none of them appears in poetry as heiti for ‘ox’. — [4] simull: A hap. leg. Cf. ON simul, ModNorw. simle ‘reindeer doe’ (ModSwed. somel ‘young deer’) and the name of a giantess (see Note to Þul Trollkvenna 3/6). See also simi (st. 1/5), and Note to simir (l. 1 above). — [5] hliðr (m.): Other than in the present stanza, the heiti is mentioned in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 109) as an example of wordplay: Hlið heitir á garði ok hlið kalla menn oxa ‘There is what is called a gateway (hlið) in a fence, and people call an ox hlið’). Hliðr is also a heiti for ‘stag’ (Þul Hjartar l. 2). The meaning of this heiti is not clear (see also røkkvihliðr, st. 1/8 above). — [5] stúfr (m.) ‘stump’: As an ox-name the word is found only here, but it is also listed among the heiti for ‘horse’ (Þul Hesta 1/8 and Anon Þorgþ I 2/1, see Note there) and ‘sword’ (Þul Sverða 2/1). — [5] litr (m.) ‘coloured one’: Most likely this is the same word as litr m. ‘colour, appearance’ (see Note to Þul Dverga 6/2). As an ox-name the heiti is found only in this þula, but it is also the name of a giant and a dwarf (Þul Dverga 6/2). — [6] hríðr (m.): A hap. leg., and the meaning is unclear. De Vries (AEW: hríðr) connects it with hreiði (st. 3/6 below, see Note there); for another possible interpretation see Gurevich (1992a, 25). — [6] forsimi: A hap. leg. and an obscure word. See simi (st. 1/5) and simir (l. 1 above). — [7] Arfr: Lit. ‘inheritance’. See Note to Anon Þorgþ II l. 6. — [7] jǫrmuni (m.) ‘mighty one’: This is also a horse-heiti (see Note to Þul Hesta 3/8), but it is not otherwise found as a heiti for ‘horse’ or ‘ox’. See also jǫrmunrekr (st. 1/4 above). — [8] eikismiðr (m.): No satisfactory explanation has been offered for this otherwise unattested cpd. The first element could be derived either from the adj. eikinn ‘savage’ (referring to a bull; CVC: eikinn) or from the noun eik f. ‘oak’. For the second element, see smiðr ‘smith’ (st. 1/6 above). Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 263) suggests ‘oaken-smith, mighty smith’, but this would be an odd term for ‘ox’.
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