Þul Skipa 9^III

Barð, kné, byrði,         belti ok kinnungr,
kjǫlborð, keili         ok kjǫlsýja,
kraptar, kerling,         klœr ok þoptur,
kalreip, þrimir,         klofar ok þiljur.

Barð, kné, byrði, belti ok kinnungr, kjǫlborð, keili ok kjǫlsýja, kraptar, kerling, klœr ok þoptur, kalreip, þrimir, klofar ok þiljur.

Prow, knee, boarding, belt and bow, keelboard, mast-wedge and garboard, bollards, keelson, claws and rowing-benches, tack, gunwales, cleats and decking.

Mss: R(44r), Tˣ(46r), C(13r), A(19v), B(9r), 744ˣ(77v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] byrði: so C, A, bygði R, Tˣ, B    [2] ok: om. Tˣ, C;    kinnungr: kinnungar C    [3] kjǫl‑: kjǫlr Tˣ, A, B    [4] ok: om. Tˣ;    ‑sýja: so C, A, B, ‑sýgja R, Tˣ    [5] kraptar: kraptr B    [6] klœr: ‘[…]le᷎r’ B, ‘kle᷎r’ 744ˣ;    ok: om. Tˣ    [7] kal‑: om. C, ‘kíal‑’ B;    ‑reip: om. C;    þrimir: þremir C    [8] klofar: so Tˣ, A, B, ‘klo var’ R, kalfar C;    ok: om. Tˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 674, Skj BI, 669, Skald I, 333; SnE 1848-87, I, 584-5, II, 482, 565, 625, SnE 1931, 209, SnE 1998, I, 129.

Notes: [1] barð (n.) ‘prow’: See Note to st. 3/3 above, as well as Falk (1912, 36) and Jesch (2001a, 148-50). — [1] kné (n.) ‘knee’: According to Falk (1912, 47; cf. also SnE 1998, II, 336), kné is the same as knélisti, and the latter term denotes a triangular bracket or a crooked piece of wood that fastens the end of a rowing-bench to the side of the ship. The word is not found in skaldic verse. Cf. ModEngl. knee, a piece of timber having a natural angular bend (OED: knee, n. II. 7.a.). — [1] byrði (n.) ‘boarding’: So A, C. The name has the same meaning as borð ‘ship’s side, planking’ (Falk 1912, 51). The R, Tˣ, B variant, bygði (‘frame’?), must be a derivative from the weak verb byggja, byggva ‘build’, but that word does not appear in Icelandic sources with this meaning until the C15th (see CVC: byggja). — [2] belti (n.) ‘belt’: This word is otherwise not attested as a nautical term and the meaning is unclear (Falk 1912, 14). — [2] kinnungr (m.) ‘bow’: Lit. ‘cheek’; see hlýr ‘bow’ (st. 7/3 above). Unlike hlýr, kinnungr is not used in verse (Falk 1912, 52; Jesch 2001a, 147 n. 51). — [3] kjǫlborð (n.) ‘keelboard’: The word has the same meaning as kjalborð or kjǫlsýja and denotes the plank next to the keel (see l. 4; Falk 1912, 52; SnE 1998, II, 335). Alternatively, this may have been two separate words rather than a cpd (so Tˣ, A, B and adopted in Skj B and Skald), kjǫlr ‘keel’ and borð ‘gunwale’, the latter of which is also used for ‘planking’ in general. — [3] keili (n.) ‘mast-wedge’: A wooden piece wedged between the mast partner and the mast (Falk 1912, 57). — [4] kjǫlsýja (f.) ‘garboard’: Lit. ‘keel-suture’ (cf. sýjur ‘clenchings’ in st. 5/3 above). The second element of this word is spelled (normalised) ‑sýgja in R and Tˣ (cf. ModIcel. kjalsýgja, kjalsíða, kjalsúla ‘garboard’, Sigfús Blöndal 1920-4, Tavle II C, no. 13). For ModEngl. garboard, the first range of planks laid upon a ship’s bottom, next to the keel’, see OED: garboard, n. Like kjǫlborð (see l. 3 above), kjǫlsýja is the term for the plank next to the keel (Falk 1912, 52). The word does not occur elsewhere in poetry. — [5] kraptar (m. pl.) ‘bollards’: These were wooden pegs (sg. krapti) on each side of the hull at the stem and stern, to which one could attach the moorings (Falk 1912, 24-5; Jesch 2001a, 170). — [5] kerling (f.) ‘keelson’: Lit. ‘old woman’. The block of wood in the bottom of a ship in which the mast was fixed (Falk 1912, 56-7; SnE 1998, II, 334). In Old Norse, the word does not occur elsewhere as a nautical term. — [6] klœr (f. pl.) ‘claws’: As a nautical term (sg. kló) the word is used with several meanings, namely (a) ‘an arm or fluke of an anchor’, (b) ‘an upper corner of a sail’, (c) ‘an arm (or arm of a bollard, krapti) extending above the side of a ship to tie a mooring-rope to’ and (d) ‘a loop for attaching a rope to the side of a sail’ (SnE 1998, II, 335). See Falk (1912, 24, 69). This heiti is not otherwise found in poetry as a nautical term. — [6] þoptur (f. pl.) ‘rowing-benches’: Þopta ‘rowing-bench’ was probably the same as the upper bitar ‘transoms’ (st. 8/7 above), which could be used as rowing-benches (Falk 1912, 71-2; Jesch 2001a, 151). — [7] kalreip (n.) ‘tack’: A rope attached to a sail to control its shape (to prevent it from shaking out the wind). The first element of the cpd is derived from the weak verb kala ‘lose the wind’ (cf. ModIcel. kelr seglið ‘the sail loses the wind’), and the second element is reip n. ‘rope’. For the Modern English nautical term ‘tack’, see OED: tack, n.¹, II., 5.a. The heiti is known only from the present þula (Falk 1912, 66-7). See also sikulgjǫrð ‘rope’ (st. 5/6). — [7] þrimir ‘gunwales’: This must be the pl. form of an unattested noun *þrim f. ‘brim, edge, rail’, which had the same meaning as m. þrǫmr (pl. þremir; so C). Only þrǫmr and the pl. form þremir are found elsewhere in poetry (see LP: þrǫmr 3). — [8] klofar (m. pl.) ‘cleats’: Cleats or slats used to fix a tent on board ship (from the strong verb kljúfa ‘cleave’). See Falk (1912, 11). The sg. form klofi is also a term for the fixing of the mast (Falk 1912, 57) as well as for the area around the mast (Falk 1912, 84). See also SnE 1998, II, 335-6. This word is not otherwise found in poetry. — [8] þiljur (f. pl.) ‘decking’: Þilja (sg.) was a deck-plank (Falk 1912, 48), and the word is used in skaldic verse (see Jesch 2001a, 151).

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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. Sigfús Blöndal. 1920-4. Islandsk-dansk ordbog / Íslensk-dönsk orðabók. Reykjavík, Copenhagen and Kristiania (Oslo): Verslun Þórarins B. Þorlákssonar / Aschehoug.
9. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
10. OED = Murray, J. A. H. et al., eds. 1884-1928. The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon. 2nd edn 1989. Simpson, J. A. and E. S. C. Weiner, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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.