Þul Á 4III
Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Á 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. 845.
notes
[1] Rǫgn (f.): A hap. leg. The origin and the meaning of this name are obscure. It could be an early name for Rögná in Hnappadalssýsla, Iceland. ÍO: Rögn, Rǫgn 2 also calls attention to such New Norwegian river-names as Ragde, Rogde and Roge (< *Raga), which may be related to ModIcel. raga ‘wander’ and ragla ‘be on the road’. The C variant ‘Ravnd’ (i.e. Rǫnd ‘shield’?) is not otherwise attested as a river-name.
Hrǫnn ‘Hrǫnn’
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hrǫnn (noun f.; °; dat. -um): wave
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
raun ‘ordeal’
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raun (noun f.; °-ar; -ir): ordeal, proof, experience
[1] raun: ‘raunn’ Tˣ, C, rǫnn A, ‘r[…]’ B, ‘ro᷎nn’ 744ˣ
notes
[1] raun (f.) ‘ordeal’: Lit. ‘ordeal, trial, experience’. As a river-name the heiti is not known from other sources.
notes
[2] Raumelfr (f.) ‘Glomma’: Raumelfr ‘river of the Raumar’ (i.e. people from Romerike, Norway); the lower part of present-day Glomma, the largest river in Norway. In Old Norse poetry the name appears only here.
notes
[2] hnipul (f.) ‘seizer’: The origin of this name is unclear. The heiti may be related to New Norw. nipla, ModSwed. dialects nippla, ModGer. dialects nipfeln ‘touch, feel, tear, catch’ (ÍO: Hnipul)). Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 266) interprets the name as ‘slowly streaming one’ (from hnip- in hnipinn, p. p. of the strong verb hnípa ‘be downcast’), but that etymology is rejected in ÍO: Hnipul. Cf. also the next heiti. — [2-3] hnipul, hnǫpul ‘seizer, grasper’: Neither name is attested elsewhere, but Grí 27/6-7 has the pair gipul and gǫpul. The suffixes ‑ull, ‑all (f. nom. sg. -ul, -al) are quite common in adjectiva agentis (see ANG §173.1 and Anm. 1). See also Geirvimul in st. 6/6.
notes
[2] hnipul (f.) ‘seizer’: The origin of this name is unclear. The heiti may be related to New Norw. nipla, ModSwed. dialects nippla, ModGer. dialects nipfeln ‘touch, feel, tear, catch’ (ÍO: Hnipul)). Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 266) interprets the name as ‘slowly streaming one’ (from hnip- in hnipinn, p. p. of the strong verb hnípa ‘be downcast’), but that etymology is rejected in ÍO: Hnipul. Cf. also the next heiti. — [2-3] hnipul, hnǫpul ‘seizer, grasper’: Neither name is attested elsewhere, but Grí 27/6-7 has the pair gipul and gǫpul. The suffixes ‑ull, ‑all (f. nom. sg. -ul, -al) are quite common in adjectiva agentis (see ANG §173.1 and Anm. 1). See also Geirvimul in st. 6/6.
hnǫpul ‘grasper’
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Hnǫpul (noun f.)
[3] hnǫpul: ‘hniopul’ C, ‘hno᷎p […]’ B, ‘hno᷎pul’ 744ˣ
notes
[2-3] hnipul, hnǫpul ‘seizer, grasper’: Neither name is attested elsewhere, but Grí 27/6-7 has the pair gipul and gǫpul. The suffixes ‑ull, ‑all (f. nom. sg. -ul, -al) are quite common in adjectiva agentis (see ANG §173.1 and Anm. 1). See also Geirvimul in st. 6/6. — [3] hnǫpul (f.) ‘grasper’: The name must be a f. form of an adj. *hnapall, but the root hnap- is unattested. It is most likely related to ModNorw. nappe ‘snatch, seize’ (see ÍO: Hnöpul, Hnǫpul; Hnipul and Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 266).
hnǫpul ‘grasper’
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Hnǫpul (noun f.)
[3] hnǫpul: ‘hniopul’ C, ‘hno᷎p […]’ B, ‘hno᷎pul’ 744ˣ
notes
[2-3] hnipul, hnǫpul ‘seizer, grasper’: Neither name is attested elsewhere, but Grí 27/6-7 has the pair gipul and gǫpul. The suffixes ‑ull, ‑all (f. nom. sg. -ul, -al) are quite common in adjectiva agentis (see ANG §173.1 and Anm. 1). See also Geirvimul in st. 6/6. — [3] hnǫpul (f.) ‘grasper’: The name must be a f. form of an adj. *hnapall, but the root hnap- is unattested. It is most likely related to ModNorw. nappe ‘snatch, seize’ (see ÍO: Hnöpul, Hnǫpul; Hnipul and Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 266).
hjalmunlá ‘rudder-wave’
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Hjalmunlá (noun f.)
[3] hjalmunlá: hjalmrá Tˣ, hjǫlmunlá A, ‘hialmun […]’ B, ‘hialmunla’ 744ˣ
notes
[3] hjalmunlá (f.) ‘rudder-wave’: Or hjǫlmunlá. As a river-name, the word is difficult to interpret, although the meaning of the two elements of the cpd is clear: hjǫlm ‘rudder’ and lá ‘the line of shoal water along the shore’ (cf. lá in Þul Sjóvar 4/2), hence ‘rudder-wave’. According to Bugge (1875, 223), Hjalmunlá is the Hjálmundalsá mentioned in Orkn (ch. 78, ÍF 34, 177), now the River Helmsdale in Sutherland, Scotland.
notes
[4] Humra (f.) ‘Humber’: The river Humber in northern England, sometimes also spelled Humbra. The name is found in many Old Norse prose sources (e.g. in Hkr, ÍF 28, 179, Eg, ÍF 2, 177, Hb 1892-6, 244, 252, etc.), but in skaldic poetry it occurs only in Árm Lv 2/1II. See also Townend (1998, 79-81).
Vína ‘Dvina’
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Vína (noun f.): [Dvina, Vína]
notes
[4] Vína (f.) ‘Dvina’: See st. 3/1 above.
Víl ‘Víl’
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2. víl (noun n.): °slør, nonneslør
notes
[5] Víl: Or Vil (the length of the vowel ([i] or [i:]) cannot be determined). One of the two mythical rivers that flow from the mouth of the wolf Fenrir (see SnE 1848-87, II, 432, 515). The name is not known from other sources. It could be the same word as víl n. ‘misery, wretchedness’ (so AEW: víl 1). Cf. such semantically similar heiti in the present list as nauð ‘need’ (st. 6/1), ekla ‘want’ (st. 1/7), mein ‘harm’ (st. 2/8), raun ‘ordeal’ (l. 1 above), none of which occurs elsewhere as heiti for ‘river’. If the vowel is short, it could be derived from vil f./n.‘wilfulness’. Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 268) suggests den gode ‘the good one’, which most likely implies ‘good for fishing’ (cf. Nyt lit. ‘profit’ in st. 6/1 below and Ván ‘hope’ in st. 1/3 above).
Vín ‘Vín’
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Vín (noun f.)
notes
[5] Vín: Or Vin, a mythical river (Grí 27/9; Gylf, SnE 2005, 33). Neither variant (Vín, Vin) occurs in other sources, and the length of the vowel cannot be determined. This river-name is either the same as vín n. ‘wine’ or vin f. ‘meadow’ (cf. strǫnd ‘beach’ and the A, B variant strind ‘bank’, st. 3/2). Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 263) opts for the latter interpretation. Alternatively, Vín may be a variant of Vína ‘the Dvina’ mentioned in l. 4 (ÍO: Vin, Vín) or it could be connected with the Indo-European root *-uei ‘wither, dry (up)’ and thus refer to a river that dries up during the summer (Hale 1983, 174).
vella ‘boiling one’
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1. vella (noun f.; °-u): °kog(en), kogning, sprudlen, det at syde og boble, kogende varme; kogende væske/masse
[5] vella: ‘yella’ Tˣ
notes
[5] vella (f.) ‘boiling one’: A hap. leg. related to the verb vella ‘well over, boil’.
valin ‘chosen one’
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Valin (noun f.)
notes
[6] valin (f.) ‘chosen one’: The heiti does not occur elsewhere. This name could be the f. form of the p. p. valinn ‘chosen’ (so Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 268). Alternatively, it could have been derived from the root *wel- in vella ‘boil’ (see ÍO: Valin and vella ‘boiling one’, l. 5 above).
notes
[6] semð (f.) ‘calm’: Or sœmð (so A, B). This river-name does not occur in other sources and it has been interpreted in different ways. According to Holthausen (1948, 240), semð is related to OHG semida ‘reed’, whereas de Vries (AEW: semd) suggests a connection to the adj. samr ‘same, unaltered, willing’ and the possible meaning ‘calm one’ (cf. semja ‘arrange, settle’ and ró ‘calm’, st. 1/7). Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 267-8) argues that the name is related to the weak verb sœma ‘honour’ (den prægtige ‘the splendid one’).
salin ‘salin’
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Salin (noun f.)
notes
[6] salin (f.): A hap. leg. The origin of this heiti is obscure. It could have been derived from the Gmc root *sel- which denotes water. ÍO: Salin, Sálgarheim(u)r lists two ‘New Norwegian’ river-names Sala and Selja in support of that etymology.
notes
[7] Drǫfn (f.) ‘Drammenselva’: The river that flows through the town of Drammen in Buskerud, Norway. This is also the name of a wave, one of Ægir’s daughters, and a heiti for ‘sea’ (Þul Sjóvar 4/5; cf. also Hrǫnn ‘wave’, l. 1 and uðr ‘wave’, st. 3/5 above). The fact that Drǫfn is immediately preceded by Nepr ‘the Dnieper’ may suggest, however, that the compiler of this þula could have taken both names from a source which mentioned the death and burial place of Þorvaldr inn víðfǫrli ‘the Wide-travelled’ (ÞvíðfIV) in Russia. According to Kristni saga ch. 13 (Hb 1892-6, 144), Þorvaldr travelled to eastern Koenugarðr (Kiev) along the Nepr (Dnieper) and died in a monastery a short way from Pallteskja (Polotsk). The saga refers to a stanza by Brandr inn víðfǫrli (Brandr LvIV), according to which Þorvaldr was buried there i há fialli vpp i Drafni ‘on a high mountain up in Drafn’, where Drafn must be either the name of a river or of a lake. Relating the same events, Þorvalds þáttr víðfǫrla (ÓT 1958-61, I, 300) states that Þorvaldr’s body is buried in Russia in a monastery located vndir haa biargi er heitir Draufn ‘beneath a high cliff called Drǫfn’, which must stem from a misinterpretation of Brandr’s stanza or of some other source that contained the same name. It has been argued that the hydronym Drafn/Drǫfn might go back to certain Slavonic place names found in the Polotsk region, such as the lakes Driv’ato, Drisv’aty and Der’bo (see Jackson 2001, 136-40).
strauma ‘torrent’
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Strauma (noun f.): [streams]
notes
[7] strauma (f.) ‘torrent’: A hap. leg. derived from straumr m. ‘stream, current’. Hence the heiti may denote something ‘deep’ or ‘swift’ (Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 267).
notes
[8] Nis (f.) ‘Nissan’: Probably a variant of Niz (i.e. the Nissan), a river in Halland, present-day Sweden (then a part of Denmark). The spelling Nis is not found elsewhere, but the form Niz appears in skaldic verse (see SkP II, 912). Alternatively, Nis could be the River Ness which flows through part of the Great Glen in Scotland (CVC 780; Bugge 1875, 220; Finnur Jónsson 1933-4, 267), which might be supported by the Tˣ variant Nes. For other suggestions, see ÍO: Niz and Nis. The B variant Níl, ‘the Nile’, is given in st. 5/1 below and must be a scribal error.
notes
[8] mynt (f.) ‘mouthed one’: A hap. leg. Most likely a f. form of the adj. myn(n)tr ‘mouthed’. Alternatively, the name has been identified as the River Mint, a very small river in Cumbria, England (CVC 780). The A variant mynd is also possible (cf. the weak verb mynda ‘measure’) but has no support in the other ms. witnesses.
notes
[8] gnapa (f.) ‘leaning one’: A hap. leg. related to the weak verb gnapa ‘lean, droop’. According to Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 266), the term might denote a high waterfall. Like some other river-names in this list, the heiti has a parallel among the heiti for ‘sea’, i.e. gnap ‘towering one’ (Þul Sjóvar 1/5).
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