Þul Skjaldar 3^III

Yrlygr ok svarmr,         eihlífnir, heiðr,
baugr, fagrbláinn,         bera, miðfjǫrnir.

Yrlygr ok svarmr, eihlífnir, heiðr, baugr, fagrbláinn, bera, miðfjǫrnir.

Battler and tumult, ever-protector, bright one, ring, fair-dark one, she-bear, mid-helmet.

Mss: R(43r), Tˣ(45r), C(12v), A(19r), B(9r), 744ˣ(71r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Yrlygr: ørlygr C, ‘v[…]gr’ B, ‘valýgr’ 744ˣ;    svarmr: svarmi C    [2] eihlífnir: eilifnir all;    heiðr: ‘he[…]’ B, ‘heiðr’ 744ˣ    [3] baugr: baugi A, bogi B    [4] ‑fjǫrnir: so B, ‑fornir R, C, A, ‑fǫrnir Tˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 667, Skj BI, 665, Skald I, 330; SnE 1848-87, I, 572, II, 478, 562, 621, SnE 1931, 204, SnE 1998, I, 123.

Notes: [1] yrlygr (m.) ‘battler’: Or ørlygr (so C). The word is derived from the battle-heiti ørlygi (see Þul Orrostu 2/6), ‘one engaged in battle’. ON ørlygi ‘battle’ is probably derived from Gmc *uz-lugja, lit. ‘not legally binding’; cf. Goth liugan ‘marry, enter a legal agreement’ (Finnur Jónsson 1926, 211; AEW: ørlygi). The word is also listed in Þul Hauks 2/1 but not found elsewhere. According to Falk (1914b, 146), the shield-heiti yrlygr might have been derived from the term for ‘hawk’, denoting a shield decorated with the image of a hawk (cf. Þiðreks saga, Þiðr 1853, 189: á þeim skildi er markaðr með gulli haukr ‘on that shield there is a hawk drawn with gold’). — [1] svarmr (m.) ‘tumult’: Probably the same as svarmr m. ‘tumult’. The heiti belongs to a ‘noise-maker type’ that is used in most of the þulur (cf. gjallr ‘clamouring one’, st. 2/1), but it is otherwise not attested as a heiti for ‘shield’. — [2] eihlífnir (m.) ‘ever-protector’: A cpd not attested elsewhere. It is generally assumed that the correct form of this word is eihlífnir or eyhlífnir (Falk 1914b, 139) and not eilífnir (lit. ‘ever-living one’ or ‘giver of eternal life’; see SnE 1998, II, 263) as in the mss. If so, the heiti is formed from the adv. ei (or ey) ‘ever’ and an agent noun derived from the weak verb hlífa ‘protect’. Cf. also hlíf ‘protection’ (st. 1/6), bǫðskýlir ‘war-shelterer’ (st. 2/4) and skuttingr ‘protector’ (st. 2/7). — [2] heiðr (m.) ‘bright one’: A substantivised adj. (heiðr ‘bright’; cf. skírr ‘clear one’, st. 2/8), and not otherwise attested as a heiti for ‘shield’. — [3] baugr (m.) ‘ring’: Baugr ‘ring, circle’ is a heiti for ‘shield’ that is quite common in poetry. It refers to a painted circle on a round shield (around the shield-boss) and came to be used as pars pro toto for the shield itself. Cf. (SnE 1998, I, 67): Á fornum skjǫldum var títt at skrifa rǫnd þá er baugr var kallaðr, ok er við þann baug skildir kendir ‘On ancient shields it was customary to paint a circle, which was called the ring, and shields are referred to in terms of that ring’. Falk (1914b, 140-1), however, argues that the word denotes not a shield-rim but the protecting hand-guard at the center of the shield, but there is no evidence for that assumption. — [3] fagrbláinn (m.) ‘fair-dark one’: Possibly a tarred shield, cf. bláar, svartar randir ‘dark, black shields’ (Falk 1914b, 147; see also SnE 1998, II, 268). Alternatively, the word may be derived from the adj. fagrblár ‘fair-blue’ (so LP: fagrbláinn). The cpd is not attested elsewhere as a heiti for ‘shield’. — [4] bera (f.) ‘she-bear’: As a shield-heiti, the word is known from the name of Egill’s shield poem Berudrápa (Egill Berdr^V (Eg 128)) and from Anon (SnE) 8/1: Baugr er á beru sœmstr ‘A ring is most seemly on a shield’. Bera also occurs once in the later rímur as a heiti for ‘shield’ (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: bera). Because it is not possible to arrive at a linguistically satisfactory derivation of this word from the strong verb bera ‘carry’ (pace AEW: bera 2), the heiti is most likely identical with bera f. ‘she-bear’, and could have been the name of a specific shield. Whether this name referred to a bear-image drawn on the shield (so Falk 1914b, 146) cannot be ascertained. Cf. yrlygr ‘battler’ in l. 1 above. — [4] miðfjǫrnir (m.) ‘mid-helmet’: So B. An otherwise unattested cpd from mið- ‘mid-’ and fjǫr n. ‘life’ or fjǫrnir ‘helmet’ (hence ‘mid-helmet’, i.e. ‘helmet protecting the middle of the body’). Falk (1914b, 152 n. 3) prefers the R, C variant miðfornir lit. ‘old in the middle’, possibly referring to a shield with an old shield-boss.

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. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
6. 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.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
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. Finnur Jónsson. 1926. ‘Oversigt over det norsk(-islandske) navneforråd för o. år 900. Med tillæg: De norsk( -islandske) tilnavne fra samme tid’. ÅNOH 16, 175-244.
11. Þiðr 1853 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1853. Saga Ðiðriks konungs af Bern. Fortælling om kong Thidrik af Bern og hans kæmper, i norsk bearbeidelse fra det trettende aarhundrede efter tydske kilder. Christiania (Oslo): Werner.
12. Internal references
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orrostu 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. 788.
14. Margaret Clunies Ross (forthcoming), ‘ Egill Skallagrímsson, Berudrápa’ 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, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1163> (accessed 26 April 2024)
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hauks 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. 943.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 518.
17. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 128 (Egill Skallagrímsson, Berudrápa 1)’ 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, p. 380.