Þul Orma 1III
Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orma 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. 928.
ek ‘I’
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ek (pron.; °mín, dat. mér, acc. mik): I, me
eitrfáa ‘venomous’
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eitrfár (adj.)
orma ‘serpents’
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ormr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): serpent
telja ‘enumerate’
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telja (verb): tell, count
notes
[3] óinn (m.) ‘fearful one’: Cf. the weak verb óask ‘dread, fear’, óan (or óun) f. ‘fear, distress’. This word is not found elsewhere as a serpent-heiti, but Óinn is the name of a dwarf (Þul Dverga 3/8).
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
Ófnir ‘Ófnir’
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ófnir (noun m.): [serpent]
notes
[3] Ófnir: One of the mythical serpents that destroy the roots of the ash Yggdrasill (Grí 34/7; SnE 2005, 19). The root vowel is either long (Ófnir lit. ‘instigator’) or short (Ofnir lit. ‘weaver’). Ófnir is also an Óðinn-heiti (Þul Óðins 7/4; for a discussion of this word, see Note there). In poetry, the name is used as a heiti for ‘serpent’ in general.
notes
[4] œlir (m.) ‘feeder’: Or œlirr (ms. A has ‘ø̨lirr’). A hap. leg. and an obscure word. It could be related to the adj. œll ‘one that deserves to be fed’ (cf. ModIcel. ælilegur) and the strong verb ala ‘feed’ (hence perhaps ‘feeder’).
notes
[4] japra: A hap. leg. and the f. form of m. japr, a term for ‘serpent’ known only from this þula (see st. 4/1 below), but cf. ModIcel. japi ‘snake’. The origin and the sense of this word are unclear. The heiti could be related to ModIcel. japla ‘chew’, MLG japen ‘gape’ and mean ‘biting one’ or ‘gaping one’ (AEW: japr, japra; ÍO: japi).
flugdreki ‘flying dragon’
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flugdreki (noun m.): flying dragon
Fáfnir ‘Fáfnir’
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Fáfnir (noun m.): Fáfnir
notes
[6] Fáfnir: Lit. ‘embracer’, from Proto Nordic *faðmnir (cf. faðmr m. ‘embrace’; see AEW: faðmr). A mythical dragon, the guardian of the gold known as the hoard of the Niflungar (Nibelungs). The name is also listed among other heiti for ‘serpent’ in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 90) as well as in Þul Sverða 9/2.
notes
[6] óri (m.) ‘raver’: Most likely related to the adj. œrr ‘mad, furious’, the weak verb óra ‘be quarrelsome’ and órar f. pl. ‘fits of madness’. The word does not otherwise occur as a heiti for ‘serpent’, but it is a dwarf-name (see Note to Þul Dverga 4/2).
fræningr ‘flashing one’
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fræningr (noun m.): °(heiti; for slange)
[7] fræningr: ‘fre᷎[…]inngr’ B, ‘fre᷎ninngr’ 744ˣ
notes
[7] fræningr (m.) ‘flashing one’: Derived from the adj. fránn ‘gleaming, flashing’, which is a poetic epithet for serpents (cf. Vsp 66/3 (NK 15) naðr fránn ‘gleaming adder’, Fáfn 26/5 (NK 185) inn fráni ormr ‘the gleaming serpent’ and LP: 2. fránn 3). The nominalised form fránn m. ‘serpent’ is attested in skaldic verse but omitted in the present þula. Fræningr is also a poetic term for ‘spear’ (= naðr; LP: fræningr).
áll ‘eel’
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1. áll (noun m.; °dat. ál; álar): eel
notes
[7] áll (m.) ‘eel’: This word does not occur in poetry as a term for ‘serpent’. Because áll (like other terms for ‘fish’) is used as a base-word in kennings for ‘serpent’ (e.g. Grett Lv 19/2, 3V (Gr 34) áll lautar ‘eel of the land’), the heiti could be a half-kenning. However, it is also possible that áll was included in the present list because an eel resembles a snake physically.
notes
[8] ornir (m.) ‘one warming itself’: A hap. leg. most likely derived from the weak verb orna ‘get warm’. The name could allude to a serpent’s habit of basking in the sun. The length of the root vowel is not certain, however, and the correct form could be órnir (cf. óri ‘raver’ in l. 6; see also ÍO: Órnir). Holthausen’s (1948, 217) assumption that ornir could be related to ormr ‘snake’ is unlikely.
Interactive view: tap on words in the text for notes and glosses
Most of the poetic names listed in this stanza (óinn m. ‘fearful one’ l. 3, œlir m. ‘feeder’ and japra l. 4, fúrr m. ‘fire’ l. 5, óri m. ‘raver’ l. 6, áll m. ‘eel’ l. 7, feginn m. ‘cheerful one’ and ornir m. ‘one warming itself’ l. 8) do not appear as heiti for ‘serpent’ in other sources, and none of these heiti is given in the list recorded in LaufE.
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