Þul Fugla 6^III

Akri, doðka,         æðr ok nætingr,
kreppingr, flóðskítr,         kjarfilki, spætr,
meisingr, ýfingr,         mýrisnípa,
rytr, hængivakr,         rifanskinna.

Akri, doðka, æðr ok nætingr, kreppingr, flóðskítr, kjarfilki, spætr, meisingr, ýfingr, mýrisnípa, rytr, hængivakr, rifanskinna.

Akri, doðka, eider duck and nætingr, kreppingr, grebe, kjarfilki, woodpecker, young titmouse, young eagle-owl, snipe, kittiwake, hængivakr, rifanskinna.

Mss: A(21r) (SnE)

Editions: Skj AI, 688, Skj BI, 677, Skald I, 342; SnE 1848-87, II, 489.

Notes: [All]: Only one of the bird-names listed in this stanza occurs elsewhere in poetry (æðr ‘eider duck’ l. 2). — [1] akri (m.): A hap. leg., perhaps derived from akr m. ‘field, crop’; hence either ‘field-dweller’ or ‘crop-destroyer’. Finnur Jónsson (LP: akri) suggests that akri is another term for sæðingr ‘gull’ (see st. 3/5 above). Alternatively, the word could be a short-form of ON akrhœna ‘partridge’ (ModDan. agerhøne, ModNorw. åkerhøne). — [1] doðka: A hap. leg. This bird has not been identified. According to CVC: doðka, it could be the brown sandpiper (Tringa fusca). The name may be derived from doði ‘languor’ with a ‑k suffix (see ÍO: doðka), related to doðra ‘weary’ (cf. doðrkvisa in st. 1/6 and Note there). — [2] æðr (f.) ‘eider duck’: The common eider (Somateria molissima), a large seabird (duck). This word also occurs in Anon (FoGT) 20/6 (see Note there). — [2] nætingr: A hap. leg. It is uncertain what species of bird is meant here. The word could be related to Faroese náti (Fulmarus glacialis) and nátungi, i.e. ‘fulmar’ and ‘young fulmar’ (see ÍO: næting(u)r). — [3] kreppingr (m.): A hap. leg. derived from the weak verb kreppa ‘clench, squeeze’, hence, lit. ‘clenching one’. Kreppingr could also refer to a bird that had been caught (cf. the expression kreppa fugl ‘catch birds’; Fritzner: kreppa 3). — [3] flóðskítr (m.) ‘grebe’: Lit. ‘flood-shitter’. This is the horned grebe (Podiceps auritus). — [4] kjarfilki (m.): Lit. ‘bunch-sole’. This is the name of an unknown bird and a hap. leg. The first and the second letter in the second element ‑ilki are somewhat blotched in the ms., but fairly certain. Ilki m. is a poetic term, the same as il ‘foot-sole’ (see ÍO: kjarfilki). The first element of the cpd is kjarf n. ‘bundle, bunch’, and ÍO (loc. cit.) suggests that this could be a kind of bird that setjist á kornknippin ‘seats itself on stacks of grain’. — [5] ýfingr (m.) ‘young eagle-owl’: A hap. leg. The name is most likely a diminutive of úfr ‘eagle-owl’ (see st. 2/7 above); see ÍO: ýfing(u)r). — [6] mýrisnípa (f.) ‘snipe’: Lit. ‘moor-snipe’. Probably the same bird as ModNorw. myrsnipe ‘dunlin’ (Calidris alpina).  — [7] rytr (m.) ‘kittiwake’: The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), a seabird (gull). See also skeglingr ‘young kittiwake’ (st. 3/7). — [7] hængivakr: An otherwise unattested cpd. This bird has not been identified and the reading of the cpd is uncertain. The first element is either hængi or hengi (in ms. A, <æ> normally represents [e]), and the quantity of vowel in the second element cannot be established with any certainty. If the vowel is short, this could be the same word as the adj. vakr ‘watchful, alert’; a long vowel would give vákr m. ‘hawk’. If the first element is hengi-, it is likely to be derived from the weak verb hengja ‘hang up’, which would yield the forms hengivákr (so LP: hengivákr) ‘hanging-hawk’ or hengivakr ‘hanging-watchful one’. The first element is probably not related to the noun hœingr m. (later hœngr, hængr) ‘male salmon’, since this is an old u-stem and we would have expected hængu- rather than hængi-.  — [8] rifanskinna (f.): An otherwise unattested cpd and probably a name for a bird of prey. The meaning is uncertain, perhaps ‘one with a torn skin’, with the first element derived from the strong verb rífa ‘tear, lacerate, shred’ (spelled rífan- in Skj B and Skald). Alternatively, it could be formed from the weak verb rifa ‘stitch’ and skinna ‘skin’ (see ÍO: rifanskinna).

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. 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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
7. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
8. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
9. Internal references
10. Not published: do not cite ()
11. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from the Fourth Grammatical Treatise 20’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 596.