Þul á hendi 1^III

Heiti eru handar:         hrammr, dýr ok raukn,
greip, mund ok spǫnn,         gaupn ok hreifi,
ulfliðr ok fingr,         armr, leggr ok bógr,
lámr, hnefi, lófi,         loppa, krumma.

Heiti handar eru: hrammr, dýr ok raukn, greip, mund ok spǫnn, gaupn ok hreifi, ulfliðr ok fingr, armr, leggr ok bógr, lámr, hnefi, lófi, loppa, krumma.

The names of the hand are: paw, beast and draught-animal, grip, hand and span, hollow of the hand and wrist, wrist and finger, arm, forearm and shoulder, paw, fist, palm, paw, claw.

Mss: A(21r) (SnE)

Editions: Skj AI, 689, Skj BI, 678, Skald I, 342; SnE 1848-87, II, 490.

Notes: [2] dýr ok raukn ‘beast and draught-animal’: Neither of these nouns is otherwise attested as heiti for ‘hand’ or ‘part of a hand’. The pairing of the two terms in this line indicates that dýr n. is used in the sense ‘beast, animal’ here, and is not, as has been suggested, derived from the adj. dýrr ‘precious, worthy, dear’ (AEW: dýr 2) perhaps referring to jewels (dýrgripr), i.e. rings worn on the arm or finger (see also ÍO: dýr 3). The terms ‘beast’ and ‘draught-animal’ may have been added to the list as a kind of rueful joke: the hand (or arm) is a body part that does a lot of hard work, just like an animal (dýr) or a beast of burden (raukn). — [5] ulfliðr (m.) ‘wrist’: Lit. ‘wolf-joint’. In Gylf (SnE 2005, 25), the word is explained in the context of the myth about the god Týr and the wolf Fenrir. As the story goes, the Æsir decided to restrain the wolf Fenrir with the fetter Gleipnir (‘Swallower’ or ‘Gaper’), but they could not convince the wolf to let them bind him until they had placed Týr’s hand in his mouth as a pledge. When the Æsir, despite their promise, refused to let him go, he bit off the hand at the place that is now called the wolf-joint (úlfliðr). From a modern point of view, this Old Norse etymology is incorrect, however, and the first element of the word is derived from ǫln, alin ‘the arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger’ (cf. ǫlbogi, ǫlnbogi ‘elbow’). Hence the original form of the word must have been ǫlnliðr (ModIcel. úlnliður, perhaps ǫln- > óln- > úln-; see ÍO: úlnliður). — [7] lámr (m.) ‘paw’: This is either an Old Norse word (if so, connected with the weak verb láma(st) ‘skulk’; see ÍO: lámur) or a loanword (< OIr. lám ‘hand’). De Vries (AEW: lámr; loppa) suggest that lámr m. is etymologically related to loppa (‘paw’, l. 8), however. Other than in the present þula and in the similar list of heiti in SnE (see Introduction above), lámr occurs only in EGils Guðkv 2/7^IV. — [8] loppa (f.) ‘paw’: Loppa denotes a large, fat hand (< Gmc *lumpōn; see AEW: loppa). The word does not otherwise occur in Old Norse poetry, but it is used in the later rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: loppa). — [8] krumma (f.) ‘claw’: This word, which occurs quite often in saga literature, seems to mean ‘hand with bent or crooked fingers’. See Note to Gríml Lv 3/8^VIII (GrL 5).

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
5. 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.
6. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
7. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
10. (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 26 April 2024)
11. Not published: do not cite (EGils Guðkv 2^IV)
12. Beatrice La Farge (ed.) 2017, ‘Gríms saga loðinkinna 5 (Grímr loðinkinni, Lausavísur 3)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 294.