Þul Skipa 5^III

Segl, skǫr, sigla,         sviðvíss, stýri,
sýjur, saumfǫr,         súð ok skautreip,
stag, stafn, stjórnvið,         stuðill ok sikulgjǫrð,
snotra ok sólborð,         sess, skutr ok strengr.

Segl, skǫr, sigla, sviðvíss, stýri, sýjur, saumfǫr, súð ok skautreip, stag, stafn, stjórnvið, stuðill ok sikulgjǫrð, snotra ok sólborð, sess, skutr ok strengr.

Sail, overlap, mast, clamp, steering-oar, clinchings, rivet-row, suture and sheet-rope, stay, stem, steering-tie, support and rope, weather-vane and sun-board, rowing-bench, stern and cable.

Mss: A(19v), B(9r), 744ˣ(76v-77r), R(43v-44r), Tˣ(45v), C(13r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Segl: ‘[…]egl’ B, Segl 744ˣ    [2] ‑víss: ‑vís all others    [4] ok: om. Tˣ;    skaut‑: skut‑ C    [5] stafn: stafn stýri B;    ‑við: ‘‑v[…]’ R, ‑viðr C    [6] stuðill: ‘[…]’ R;    ok: ‘[…]’ R, om. Tˣ;    sikulgjǫrð: ‘sikul gerd’ B, ‘[…]giorð’ R    [7] ok: so B, R, C, om. A, Tˣ    [8] ok: om. Tˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 673, Skj BI, 668, Skald I, 333; SnE 1848-87, I, 583, II, 481, 565, 624, SnE 1931, 208, SnE 1998, I, 128.  

Notes: [All]: Here and in some other stanzas of this þula (cf. sts 6/1-4, 7 and 9), the nautical terms are deliberately collected and put together according to their initial sound. — [All]: Ms. R is partially illegible and A is the main ms. for this stanza, which is reflected in the order of the mss. — [1] skǫr (f.) ‘overlap’: This term refers to the overlap of planks in the ship’s side, i.e. the joining of strakes (Falk 1912, 49; Jesch 2001a, 140). — [2] sviðvíss (m.) ‘clamp’: Or sviðvís f. Sviði was a clamp or fastening used in the construction of ships (SnE 1998, II, 408), and -vís(s) may be related to New Norw. vise ‘sprout, stem’, Russian vecha ‘pole’ (ÍO: sviðvís(s)). According to Falk (1912, 66-7), sviðvís(s) possibly denotes a pole that held back the centre of the sail (cf. kalreip ‘tack’, st. 9/7 and sikulgjǫrð ‘rope’, l. 6 below). That suggestion is, however, based on a tenuous interpretation of a stanza in Orkn (see Rv Lv 22/5-8^II). — [2] stýri (n.) ‘steering-oar’: The rudder, fastened on the right (starboard) side of the hull towards the stern of the ship (Falk 1912, 73-7; Jesch 2001a, 159). — [3] sýjur (f. pl.) ‘clinchings’: Most likely rows of rivets (seams of nails) joining the strakes together (from the weak verb sýja ‘sew’). See Falk (1912, 49) and AEW: sýja 1-2. Sýjur could also be used as a pars pro toto for ‘ships’. — [3] saumfǫr (f.) ‘rivet-row’: The visible row of nails along a strake in the hull (Falk 1912, 50; Jesch 2001a, 140). — [4] súð (f.) ‘suture’: The planks in the hull, joined by nails (see sýjur ‘clinchings’, l. 3 above; Falk 1912, 49; Jesch 2001a, 139-40). Like sýjur, súð is also a pars pro toto for ‘ship’. — [4] skautreip (n.) ‘sheet-rope’: The rope fastened to a corner of the sail (skaut) (Falk 1912, 64; Jesch 2001a, 163-4). — [6] stuðill (m.) ‘support’: As a name for a part of a ship, stuðill perhaps denotes the ridge-pole of the tent on board a ship (SnE 1998, II, 404). The only known occurrence of the word in a nautical context is as the second element of the cpd tjaldstuðill ‘tent-support’ (Falk 1912, 11-12). — [6] sikulgjǫrð (f.) ‘rope’: This may be the term for a rope used to reduce the sail in heavy winds, a buntline (from gjǫrð ‘belt’, while the first element seems to be from Lat. cingulum ‘girdle, waist-belt, sword-belt’; Falk 1912, 66). The word is also attested as a term for ‘sword-belt’ (LP: sikulgjǫrð 2 and Hallv Knútdr 2/2). See also kalreip ‘tack’ (st. 9/7). — [7] snotra (f.) ‘weather-vane’: Most likely a weather-vane, a carved female head above the stem (cf. Snotra, a goddess, Þul Ásynja 1/4). The word does not occur elsewhere except as the second element of the cpd húsasnotra ‘gable head’. The context in which this term occurs in prose works (Ǫrvar-Odds saga, ch. 14, FSN II, 210; Grœnlendinga saga, ch. 8, ÍF 4, 268) shows that húsasnotra must have been a kind of wooden weather-vane on a ship, which could also adorn the gable of a house (Falk 1912, 42). — [7] sólborð (n.) ‘sun-board’: See Note to ÞSjár Frag 1/2. — [8]: The capital letter ‘S’ (‘Sess’) in C indicates that this is the first line of the next stanza in that ms. — [8] sess (m.) ‘rowing-bench’: A short, fixed rowing bench occupied by two men (Falk 1912, 72; Jesch 2001a, 186). — [8] skutr ok strengr (m., m.) ‘stern and cable’: Skutr ‘stern’ was the space in the aft of a ship (Falk 1912, 84; see also ÞSjár Frag 1/6), and strengr ‘cable’ most likely refers to the anchor- or mooring-rope (Falk 1912, 24; Jesch 2001a, 169; ÓTr Lv 1/2^V (Hallfr 6)).

References

1. Bibliography
2. FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
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. 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.
7. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
10. ÍF 4 = Eyrbyggja saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson and Matthías Þórðarson. 1935.
11. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. Internal references
14. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 26 April 2024)
15. Not published: do not cite ()
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Orkneyinga saga’ 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=47> (accessed 26 April 2024)
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 763.
18. Matthew Townend (ed.) 2017, ‘Hallvarðr háreksblesi, Knútsdrápa 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 232.
19. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2022, ‘Hallfreðar saga 6 (Óláfr Tryggvason, Lausavísa 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 879.
20. Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 22’ 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. 600.
21. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Þórðr Særeksson (Sjáreksson), Fragments 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 476.