Þul Fiska 1^III

Lax ok langa,         lýsa, brosma,
birtingr, hœingr,         bust ok hrygna,
humarr, hrognkelsi,         hveðnir, flóki,
ǫlunn, aurriði         ok Andvari.

Lax ok langa, lýsa, brosma, birtingr, hœingr, bust ok hrygna, humarr, hrognkelsi, hveðnir, flóki, ǫlunn, aurriði ok Andvari.

Salmon and ling, whiting, tusk, sea-trout, male salmon, perch and kelt, lobster, lumpfish, male fish, flounder, mackerel, trout and Andvari.

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

Readings: [1] Lax ok langa: Lax langa Tˣ, C, ‘[…]ax ok […]nga’ B, ‘Lax ok lannga’ 744ˣ    [2] lýsa: lýsa ok C, ‘lýs[…]’ B, lýsa ok 744ˣ;    brosma: ‘br[…]’ B, brosma 744ˣ    [4] bust: byst Tˣ;    ok: om. Tˣ    [7] aurriði: ‘[…]vrride’ B, ‘aurriðe’ 744ˣ    [8] ok: om. Tˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 670-1, Skj BI, 667, Skald I, 331; SnE 1848-87, I, 578, II, 480, 563-4, 623, SnE 1931, 207, SnE 1998, I, 126.

Notes: [All]: Of the fifteen heiti for ‘fish’ listed in this stanza, five are not found in poetry, i.e. brosma f. ‘tusk’ (l. 2), bust n. ‘perch’ (l. 4), hrygna f. ‘kelt’ (l. 4), flóki m. ‘flounder’ (l. 6) and Andvari (l. 8). — [1] langa (f.) ‘ling’: A saltwater fish (Molva molva). — [2] lýsa, brosma ‘whiting, tusk’: Whiting (lýsa f.) is a saltwater fish (Merlangius merlangus) and tusk (brosma f.; Brosmius brosme) a saltwater fish resembling a ling. The latter is also called keila (see st. 4/3 below). — [3] hœingr (m.) ‘male salmon’: In mss R, Tˣ, A, the word occurs in the older, disyllabic form. In the present list, the term most likely refers to a male salmon, whereas ModIcel. hængur can be a male fish of other species as well (Nordgaard 1912, 55). — [4] bust ok hrygna ‘perch and kelt’: Perch (bust n.) is a rather small freshwater fish (Perca fluviativis) and hrygna f. ‘kelt’ is roe-fish (from hrogn ‘roe’), a female fish that has just spawned. — [5] hrognkelsi (m.) ‘lumpfish’: A somewhat large saltwater fish (Cyclopterus lumpus), whose roe (hrogn) can be used as a substitute for caviar. — [6] hveðnir (m.) ‘male fish’: The word occurs only in poetry. According to Falk (1925c, 126), this heiti is related to Goth. hwaþo ‘foam’ (and the verb hwaþjan ‘foam’) and it is probably not a term for a particular species but rather one of the words denoting male and female fish (cf. hœingr ‘male salmon’ and hrygna ‘kelt’ (ll. 3-4)). Cf., however, ModIcel. bretahveðnir ‘Cornish blackfish’. — [6] flóki (m.) ‘flounder’: Or ‘fluke’. As a term for a species of fish, the word does not occur in other Old Norse sources. According to Nordgaard (1912, 56), flóki is a kind of flounder (Pleuronectes flesus). — [8] Andvari: Lit. ‘watcher’. This is the name of a legendary dwarf who assumed the form of a pike, hence, ‘pike’ (Kristensen 1917, 112). Cf. the prose to Reg (NK 173): hann var lǫngom í forsinom í geddo líki ‘he stayed in the waterfall for a long time in the shape of a pike’. Other than in the present list, the word does not occur as a heiti for ‘fish’.

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. 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.
5. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Nordgaard, O. 1912. ‘Fiskenavnene i Snorres Edda’. MM, 54-66.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1925c. ‘Svensk ordforskning (Elof Hellquist: Svensk etymologisk ordbok)’. ANF 41, 113-39.
9. Kristensen, Marius. 1917. ‘Nogle fiskenavne fra Eddas nafnaþulur’. MM, 111-12.
10. Internal references
11. Not published: do not cite ()