Þul Á 6^III

Nyt, Hrǫnn ok nauð,         Nǫt, Slíðr ok Hríð,
Kǫrmt, Leiptr ok Ǫrmt,         Kerlaugar tvær,
Gǫmul, Sylgr ok yn         ok Geirvimul,
Ylgr, Vǫð ok flóð;         Jorðán es á lesti.

Nyt, Hrǫnn ok nauð, Nǫt, Slíðr ok Hríð, Kǫrmt, Leiptr ok Ǫrmt, tvær Kerlaugar, Gǫmul, Sylgr ok yn ok Geirvimul, Ylgr, Vǫð ok flóð; Jorðán es á lesti.

Nyt, Hrǫnn and need, Nǫt, Slíðr and Hríð, Kǫrmt, Leiptr and Ǫrmt, two Kerlaugar, Gǫmul, Sylgr and yn and Geirvimul, Ylgr, Vǫð and flood; Jordan is the last.

Mss: R(43v), Tˣ(45v), C(12v), A(19r), B(9r), 744ˣ(74r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Nyt: nit Tˣ    [2] Nǫt: ‘[…]ót’ B, ‘nót’ 744ˣ;    ok Hríð: ‘[…]rid’ B, ‘hrid’ 744ˣ    [3] Kǫrmt: ‘kaurm’ Tˣ, ‘k[…]mt’ B, ‘ko᷎rmt’ 744ˣ;    Leiptr: so all others, ‘leifstr’ R;    ok: om. Tˣ;    Ǫrmt: om. C, ormr B    [4] Kerlaugar: ‘[…]ar’ B, ‘kerlaugar’ 744ˣ    [5] Sylgr: sylgir Tˣ;    ok yn: om. B    [6] ‑vimul: ‘v[…]m[…]’ B, ‘vímo᷎l’ 744ˣ    [7] Vǫð: vað Tˣ, auð C;    ok: om. Tˣ;    flóð: so Tˣ, A, B, fold R, C

Editions: Skj AI, 670, Skj BI, 667, Skald I, 331; SnE 1848-87, I, 578, II, 480, 563, 623, SnE 1931, 206, SnE 1998, I, 126.

Notes: [All]: Most of the river-names enumerated in this stanza are mythical names taken from Grí 27-9. The content of the two versified lists coincides and there are many structural similarities (noted below). Aside from Jorðán ‘the Jordan’ (l. 8), none of these names is found elsewhere in skaldic verse. — [1, 2] Nyt ... Nǫt: The same pair of alliterating names is found in Gylf (SnE 2005, 33) and Grí 28/4 (NK 63) Nyt oc Nǫt lit. ‘profit and wet one’. Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 263) argues that the river-name Nyt is the same as ON nyt f. ‘use, enjoyment, produce’, and hence the implied meaning of this heiti might be ‘one rich in fish’. Such river-names as ModSwed. Nytteström may, according to Hale (1983, 177-8), support this interpretation. ON nyt f. also means ‘milk’, however, and it is possible that the river-name Nyt could refer to the colour of the water (Hale loc. cit. mentions Mjølkeelven lit. ‘milk river’ in Norway). For Nǫt, cf. ModSwed. Naten, a lake in Södermanland, and OS nat, OHG naz ‘wet’, Goth. ganatjan ‘to wet’, Sanskrit nadi ‘river’ (AEW: nǫt 2). According to Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 263), Nǫt might mean ‘shaking one’. Sijmons and Gering (S-G I, 199) connect it with the spear-heiti nǫt (see Þul Spjóts l. 1) and interpret this river-name as ‘stinging or burning one’ (see also Hale 1983, 178). These and other mythical names recorded in ll. 1-2 are names of rivers flowing from the spring Hvergelmir. — [1] Hrǫnn: See Note to st. 4/1 above. — [1] nauð (f.) ‘need’: Or ‘necessity’. This river-heiti is not known from other sources. — [2] Slíðr ok Hríð ‘Slíðr and Hríð’: Lit. ‘fearful one and storm’. The first name also occurs as f. Slíð, which agrees better with the other heiti for ‘river’, since most of them are in the f. Cf. Slíð oc Hríð in Grí 28/6 (NK 63), but Slíðr oc Hríð in Gylf (SnE 2005, 9) and Slíðr in Vsp 36/4 (NK 8). See also CVC 780. — [3-4] Kǫrmt … ok Ǫrmt, tvær Kerlaugar ‘Kǫrmt … and Ǫrmt, two Kerlaugar’: Cf. Grí 29/1-2 (NK 63) Kǫrmt oc Ǫrmt | oc Kerlaugar tvær (also cited in Gylf, SnE 2005, 17). According to Grí 29/3-6, these are the rivers Þórr crosses on his way to the legal assembly at the ash Yggdrasill. Kǫrmt is also an island in Rogaland, Norway (Karmøy; see Þul Eyja 3/2), but it is uncertain whether there is any connection between that island and the river-heiti. According to Olsen (1925), the pair Kǫrmt ok Ǫrmt is most likely to be derived from karmr and armr, which are terms for ‘pen in a sheep-fold’, denoting two parallel parts of a sheep-fold (the same as fjárhúskró or kró í fjárhúsi ‘corner in a cowshed/sheep cote’). He suggests that, as names for rivers, they have their origin in the myth about Þórr’s encounter with the daughters of the giant Geirrøðr in a goat-shed (see SnE 1998, I, 25). There have also been other attempts to explain the name Ǫrmt. According to Cleasby and Vigfusson (CVC 780), this could be the river Armet in Scotland, while Sijmons and Gering (S-G I, 200) argue that the possible sense of the name is in arme sich teilend, ein delta bildend ‘dividing itself into armlets, forming a delta’ (from armr ‘arm’). The name Kerlaug (here f. nom. pl. Kerlaugar) translates as ‘tub-washing’. — [3] Leiptr (f.): Lit. ‘lightning’. The name might refer either to the movement or to the glow of the river (S-G I, 199). This is one of the mythical rivers that flow from the spring Hvergelmir (Grí 28/10; Gylf, SnE 2005, 9). Cf. also HHund II 31/6 where Leiptr is a river where oaths are sworn. — [5, 6] Gǫmul … ok Geirvimul ‘Gǫmul … and Geirvimul’: Mythical rivers, lit. ‘old one and spear-swarming one’. See Gǫmul oc Geirvimul in Grí 27/7 (NK 62) and the same pair in Gylf (SnE 2005, 33). According to Sijmons and Gering (S-G I, 198), Gǫmul is most likely a substantivised f. form of the Old Norse adj. gamall ‘old’ and this name may refer to an old river bed (cf. such river names as ModGer. Alter Rhein ‘Old Rhine’ or Gamlelva in Norway). For another, less convincing interpretation, see Hale (1983, 172). — [5] Sylgr: Lit. ‘swallower’, from the Old Norse verb svelgja ‘swallow’. Cf. the Icelandic river-name Svelgsá and Svelga in Norway (Hale 1983, 179). This mythical name is listed in Grí 28/7 and Gylf (SnE 2005, 9) along with Ylgr, lit. ‘she-wolf’ (l. 7 below). — [5] yn: See Note to st. 5/6 above. — [6] Geirvimul (f.): This mythical name translates as ‘spear-swarming one’ (for -vimul, cf. Vimur in st. 1/3 above) and refers to a river filled with pointed weapons, such as the dangerous underworld river Slíðr (l. 2 above) filled with sǫxom oc sverðom ‘knives and swords’ mentioned in Vsp 36 (NK 8; see ll. 5, 6 above) and the weapon-filled river which Hadingus had to cross in Saxo’s Gesta Danorum (Saxo 2005, I, 1, 8, 14, pp. 124-5). See also Hale (1983, 172). For the suffix ‑ul, see Note to st. 4/2-3 above. — [7] Ylgr (f.): Lit. ‘she-wolf’ (see Note to Sylgr l. 5 above). There are semantically parallel geographical names such as the Norwegian river Ulva (Rygh 1904, 285) and a Swedish lake called Ulven, mentioned by Hale (1983, 180), both derived from ON úlfr m. ‘wolf’. Alternatively, Ylgr might be related to ModIcel. ylgja f. and ólga f. ‘sea swell’ (Hale loc. cit.). — [7] Vǫð (f.): Perhaps the same as vað n. ‘ford, wading-place’ (AEW: Vǫð). Most likely the name of a mythical river, cf. Grí 28/7-8 (NK 63) Sylgr oc Ylgr | Víð oc Vað (so ms. A, but Víð oc Ván in the Codex Regius version of this stanza). Finnur Jónsson (1933-4, 268), however, doubts that vǫð = vað, because the latter word never denotes ‘river’ elsewhere, and he argues that the correct form is f. væð (cf. ‘vavð’ in R, but ‘vad’ in Tˣ) from væðr, which he translates as farbar ‘one that might be waded’. — [7] flóð (n.) ‘flood’: So Tˣ, A and B and adopted in Skj B, Skald and in the present edn. SnE 1998 prefers the R, C variant fold f. ‘land’. Fold(in) is the Old Norse name for the Norwegian Oslofjorden and the surrounding areas.  — [8] Jorðán (f.) ‘Jordan’: See Note to [All] above. Cf. also Heimslýsing (Hb 1892-6, 154), Skm (SnE 1998, I, 76), Hkr (ÍF 28, 84, 249, 261, 297, 325), etc.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. 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.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
7. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
12. Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
13. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. S-G = Gering, Hugo. 1927-31. Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda. Nach dem Tode des Verfassers herausgegeben von B. Sijmons. I: Götterlieder. II: Heldenlieder. Halle: Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
15. Finnur Jónsson. 1933-4. ‘Þulur’. APS 8, 262-72.
16. Hale, Christopher. 1983. ‘The River Names in Grímnismál 27-29’. In Glendinning et al. 1983, 165-86.
17. Olsen, Magnus. 1925. ‘Kǫrmt ok Ǫrmt’. In Germanica: Eduard Sievers zum 75. Geburtstage 25. November 1925, 246-57. Rpt. in Olsen 1938a, 178-88.
18. Rygh, Oluf. 1904. Norske elvenavne. Efter offentlig foranstaltning utgivne med tilføiede forklaringer af K. Rygh. Kristiania (Oslo): Cammermeyer.
19. Internal references
20. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Heimskringla’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=4> (accessed 19 April 2024)
21. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 19 April 2024)
22. (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 19 April 2024)
23. Not published: do not cite ()
24. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Eyja 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. 976.
25. Not published: do not cite ()
26. Not published: do not cite ()
27. Not published: do not cite ()
28. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Spjóts 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. 816. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3197> (accessed 19 April 2024)
29. Not published: do not cite ()