Þul Øxna 4^III

Kýr heitir skirja,         kvíga ok frenja
ok Auðhumbla;         hon es œzt kúa.

Kýr heitir skirja, kvíga ok frenja ok Auðhumbla; hon es œzt kúa.

A cow is called young cow, heifer and lower and Auðhumbla; she is the noblest of cows.

Mss: R(44r), Tˣ(46r), C(13r), A(20r), B(9v), 744ˣ(80r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] skirja: ‘s[…]ia’ B, ‘skíría’ 744ˣ    [2] ok: om. Tˣ, ‘[…]’ B, ok 744ˣ;    frenja: ‘fræna’ C    [3] ok: om. Tˣ;    ‑humbla: ‑umbla Tˣ, C, A, ‘‑kumla’ B    [4] œzt: elzt Tˣ, A, B

Editions: Skj AI, 676, Skj BI, 669, Skald I, 334; SnE 1848-87, I, 588, II, 483, 567, 626, SnE 1931, 210, SnE 1998, I, 131.

Notes: [2] frenja (f.) ‘lower’: A poetic name for ‘cow’ related to the weak verb frenja ‘roar, low’. — [3] Auðhumbla: Or Auðhumla. In Gylf (SnE 2005, 11), this is the name of the mythical cow whose milk feeds Ymir, the primeval giant. The name may mean ‘wealthy hornless cow’, from auðr m. ‘wealth’ (here most likely implying that this cow had plenty of milk) and ‑humla f. derived from the adj. *humala-, humula-, cf. ModEngl. humble ‘hornless’ (AEW: Auðhumla, Auðumla, Auðhumbla; Noreen 1918, 169-72; Olsen 1938b, 71). Alternatively, the second element may be the same word as humla f. ‘hop’, a plant used during beer-brewing (Toporova and Uspensky 1999, 132-3). This heiti is not found in poetry. — [4] œzt kúa ‘the noblest of cows’: In mss Tˣ, A and B Auðhumbla is characterised as elzt kúa ‘the oldest of cows’ (adopted in Skj B and Skald).

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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
9. Noreen, Adolf. 1918. ‘Urkon Auðhumla och några hennes språkliga släktingar’. NoB 6, 169-72.
10. Olsen, Magnus. 1938b. ‘Reid i norske kunavn’. MM, 71.
11. Internal references
12. (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 19 April 2024)