Þul Hrafns 1^III

Hrafn, holdbori,         Huginn, óværi,
blæingr, liti,         borginmóði,
hornklofi, viti,         klóakan,
krákr, drúkr, Muninn,         corvus, geri.

Hrafn, holdbori, Huginn, óværi, blæingr, liti, borginmóði, hornklofi, viti, klóakan, krákr, drúkr, Muninn, corvus, geri.

Raven, flesh-borer, Huginn, restless one, black one, sharp-seeing one, borginmóði, horn-splitter, wise one, sharp-clawed one, crow, drúkr, Muninn, corvus, greedy one.

Mss: A(20v), B(9v), 744ˣ(87v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Hrafn: ‘[…]rafn’ B, Hrafn 744ˣ    [2] óværi: óveri B    [3] blæingr: ‘bl[…]gr’ B, ‘blẹ᷎ịngr’ 744ˣ    [6] klóakan: ‘kíala[…]n’ B, ‘kíalakan’ 744ˣ    [8] corvus: ‘kormíss‑’ B

Editions: Skj AI, 686, Skj BI, 676, Skald I, 340; SnE 1848-87, II, 488, 571.

Notes: [All]: Many heiti listed in this stanza are not attested elsewhere, namely, holdbori m. ‘flesh-borer’ (l. 1), óværi m. ‘restless one’ (l. 2), blæingr m. ‘black one’, liti m. ‘sharp-seeing one (l. 3), viti m. ‘wise one’ (l. 5), klóakan ‘sharp-clawed one’ (l. 6) and drúkr (l. 7). — [2] Huginn: Lit. ‘thought’. One of Óðinn’s two wise ravens (from hugr m. ‘mind, thought’; see Grí 20/1; SnE 2005, 32). The name is frequently used as a poetic term for ‘raven’. Cf. Muninn in l. 7 below. — [2] óværi (m.) ‘restless one’: In this form the name probably means either ‘restless one’ or ‘unfriendly one’ (formed from the negative prefix ó- and the adj. værr ‘peaceful, tranquil’). However, since [e] is normally rendered as <æ> in ms. A, the actual form of this heiti may well be óveri (so B). In this case the word could be connected with the weak verb verja ‘defend’, but the meaning of óveri is unclear. The LaufE mss have óvari ‘incautious one’ here. — [3] liti (m.) ‘sharp-seeing one’: Or perhaps ‘watchful one’ (an agent noun from the strong verb líta ‘look’, cf. lítask um ‘look about’; see ÍO: liti). — [4] borginmóði: This is a poetic name for ‘raven’, which may be interpreted as ‘one saved by one’s mood’ (so LP: borginmóði), from the p. p. of the strong verb bjarga ‘save, help’ and móðr m. ‘mood, wrath’ (cf. the adj. borginorðr ‘cautious in words, reserved’). Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 249) suggests ‘one secure in mood, haughty, self-confident one’. — [5-6]: This long-line is metrically defective and a word must be missing either from the first or the second half-line. Neither ms. has a lacuna here, which indicates that the word was left out in the A, B exemplar. The LaufE mss have an additional heiti that is not recorded in the present þula, namely vari ‘cautious, attentive, watchful one’ (see Notes to óværi ‘restless one’ l. 2 above and to Andvari, Þul Dverga 3/3), which is not otherwise attested in poetry as a heiti for ‘raven’. If we assume that vari was originally included in the þula, it must have preceded hornklofi ‘horn-splitter’ (l. 5), and ll. 5-6 would be reconstructed as follows (as a Type D- plus a Type D4-line if the last word is emended; see Note to l. 6 below): vari, hornklofi, | viti, klóakan ‘cautious one, horn-splitter, wise one, sharp-clawed one’. — [5] hornklofi (m.) ‘horn-splitter’: If horn n. ‘horn’ in this cpd is used as a metaphor for ‘beak’, this heiti could also be interpreted as ‘one splitting with the beak’ (the second element is derived from the strong verb kljúfa ‘cleave, split’). The word is not found in poetry as a raven-heiti, but it is the nickname of the skald Þorbjǫrn (Þhorn) (see Fidjestøl 1997b, 147). — [5] viti (m.) ‘wise one’: Or possibly ‘prophetic one’ (cf. the pret. pres. verb vita ‘know’, the adj. vitr ‘wise’, as well as the fire-heiti viti m. ‘beacon’, Þul Elds 2/5; see ÍO: viti). — [6] klóakan ‘sharp-clawed one’: This raven-heiti is an obscure word, perhaps derived from kló f. ‘claw’ and the bird-name kárn (for the latter, see Þul Fugla 4/1 and Note there and ÍO: klóakan). The B (744ˣ) variant ‘kíalakan’ is also difficult to make sense of (cf. Óðinn’s name Kjalarr, Þul Óðins 1/5). The LaufE mss have (normalised) kjólakan here, which could be construed as kjóla-, gen. pl. of kjóll m. ‘barge’ (see Þul Skipa 2/7), and ‑kan (= kárn, see above). Kjólakan would then mean ‘barges’ bird’, and the term could refer to ravens circling above ships (see also Note to kjalarfugl, Þul Fugla 4/1). The form kjólakan is also preferable from a metrical point view, but because the word is not present in this form in either A or B, it is not emended here. — [7] drúkr: An obscure word (see ÍO: druk(u)r, drúk(u)r) that is not included in LaufE. According to de Vries (AEW: drukr), the reading drúkr (or drukr?) is corrupt and the correct form of this heiti might be hrókr ‘rook’ or hraukr ‘hawk’. — [7] Muninn: One of Óðinn’s ravens (from the pret. pres. verb muna ‘remember’, munr m. ‘mind’, cf. Huginn in l. 2 above) used as a poetic term for ‘raven’. The heiti is also a dwarf-name (Þul Dverga 1/3). — [8] corvus: A foreign word (= Lat. corvus ‘raven’) not attested in other Old Norse texts and not included in LaufE. — [8] geri (m.) ‘greedy one’: One of Óðinn’s wolves and a heiti for ‘wolf’ in general (see Þul Vargs 1/1). Geri appears to have been transferred to Þul Hrafns owing to its characterising meaning (‘greedy’), since this word never occurs as a raven-heiti in poetic sources (on the polysemy of mythical names in the þulur, see Gurevich 1992c, 44-6). It is not included in LaufE.

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. Fidjestøl, Bjarne. 1997b. ‘“Meira lið eða minna?” Ein merknad til Nesjavísur’. Nordica Bergensia 14, 15-19.
7. Gurevich, Elena A. 1992c. ‘Þulur in Skáldskaparmál: An Attempt at Skaldic Lexicology’. ANF 107, 35-52.
8. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
9. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Internal references
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Vargs 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. 903.
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dverga 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. 693.
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dverga heiti 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 697.
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Óðins nǫfn 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. 732.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Elds 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. 922.
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fugla heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 955.
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skipa 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. 863.
19. Not published: do not cite ()
20. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hrafns heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 944. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3238> (accessed 30 April 2024)
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ 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=10928> (accessed 30 April 2024)