Þul Fiska 2^III

Síld, seiðr, skata,         síl, reyðr ok ǫgr,
skreiðungr ok síkr,         skalgi, flyðra,
fyldingr, styrja         ok fuðryskill,
hámerr, steinbítr         ok háskerðingr.

Síld, seiðr, skata, síl, reyðr ok ǫgr, skreiðungr ok síkr, skalgi, flyðra, fyldingr, styrja ok fuðryskill, hámerr, steinbítr ok háskerðingr.

Herring, coalfish, skate, sand-eel, char and redfish, codfish and houting, roach, flounder, fyldingr, sturgeon and sea scorpion, porbeagle shark, ocean catfish and Greenland shark.

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

Readings: [1] Síld seiðr skata: ‘[…]’ B, ‘silld seidr skata’ 744ˣ    [2] ok: om. Tˣ    [3] skreiðungr: skeiðungr B;    síkr: so Tˣ, A, ‘sitr’ or ‘sicr’ R, ‘lítr’ or ‘sícr’ C, ‘likr’ B    [4] skalgi: skalgi ok A, ‘skialgr ok’ B;    flyðra: ‘fludra’ C    [5] fyldingr: ‘fyllvingr’ or ‘fylldingr’ C;    styrja: ‘stydra’ C    [6] fuðryskill: so A, ‘fyþrvskill’ R, ‘fuðriskill’ Tˣ, ‘fydryskill’ C, ‘fud[…]’ B, ‘fudrískíll’ 744ˣ    [7] hámerr: hamarr C, ‘h[…]’ B, ‘hámer’ 744ˣ;    steinbítr: steinbeitr C, A, ‘[…]’ B, steinbítr 744ˣ    [8] ok: om. Tˣ, C

Editions: Skj AI, 671, Skj BI, 667, Skald I, 332; SnE 1848-87, I, 578-9, II, 480, 564, 623, SnE 1931, 207, SnE 1998, I, 126.  

Notes: [All]: Of the sixteen heiti for ‘fish’ listed here, only six occur in poetry and they are all recorded in the first lines of the stanza: síld f. ‘herring’ (l. 1), seiðr m. ‘coalfish’ (l. 1), síl n. ‘sand-eel’ (l. 2), reyðr m. ‘char’ (l. 2), ǫgr m. ‘redfish’ (l. 2) and síkr m. ‘houting’ (l. 3). — [1] seiðr, skata ‘coalfish, skate’: Coalfish (seiðr m.; Pollachius virens) is a saltwater fish of the cod family, also called ufsi in the present list (see st. 4/1 below). Skate (skata f.) belongs to the family Rajidai. Several different species of skate live in North Atlantic waters. — [2] síl, reyðr ok ǫgr ‘sand-eel, char and redfish’: Sand-eel (síl n.; Ammodytes tobanius) is a relatively small eel living on the sandy bottom of the sea. Reyðr m. is the Atlantic char (Salvelinus alpinus), living in fresh- and saltwater, and ǫgr m. is ‘redfish’ or ‘rose fish’, ‘ocean perch’ (Sebastes marinus), a saltwater fish. — [3] skreiðungr (m.) ‘codfish’: Gadus minutus (ÍO: skreiðung(u)r). According to Nordgaard (1912, 59), the name is derived from skreið ‘shoal of fish’, hence perhaps originally ‘fish from a shoal’. — [3] síkr (m.) ‘houting’: A kind of freshwater whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus). — [4] skalgi (m.) ‘roach’: The word is not used in ModIcel. (ÍO: skalgi, skalg(u)r), but it is cognate with OE scealga ‘roach’ (Rutilus rutilus), a relatively small freshwater fish (Nordgaard 1912, 59). — [5] fyldingr (m.): A hap. leg. and an unknown species of fish. The word seems to be derived from fold ‘earth’, and hence it may denote a groundling or a flat fish (cf. ÍO: fylding(u)r). Alternatively, the correct form of this heiti might have been fylvingr, which is possibly the C variant (see Nordgaard 1912, 59), but the word is difficult to read in that ms. — [5] styrja (f.) ‘sturgeon’: Cf. OE styria ‘sturgeon’. This is the Atlantic or European sturgeon (Acipenser sturio). The word is not used in skaldic poetry but it occurs in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: styrja). — [6] fuðryskill (m.) ‘sea scorpion’: In Old Norse, this is most likely the term for Cottus scorpius, ‘shorthorn sculpin’ (Nordgaard 1912, 60), a freshwater fish, although ModIcel. fuðriskill, fuðryskill is Icelus bicornis ‘twohorn sculpin’ (Bjarni Sæmundsson 1926, 108). — [7] hámerr (f.) ‘porbeagle shark’: Lit. ‘shark-mare’. Hámerr is the female porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus). See also hamarr ‘porbeagle shark’ (st. 3/2 below). — [7] steinbítr (m.) ‘ocean catfish’: Lit. ‘stone-biter’. Most likely Anarhichas lupus, also known as seawolf, Atlantic catfish or Atlantic wolffish, although steinbítr could denote any of the three species of the family Anarhichadidae.  — [8] háskerðingr (m.) ‘Greenland shark’: Somnius microcephalus. One of the largest species of shark.

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. 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.
5. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Nordgaard, O. 1912. ‘Fiskenavnene i Snorres Edda’. MM, 54-66.
9. Bjarni Sæmundsson. 1926. Fiskarnir (Pisces Islandiæ). Íslenzk dýr I. Reykjavík: Bókaverslun Sigfúsar Eymundssonar.