Anon Gát 2^III

Enn sá ek fljúga         öðru sinni:
skorinn línskauta         ok skip Þráins,
járn ór afli,         útleidda sál,
konu kjötnefnda         fyr kvið neðan.

Enn sá ek fljúga öðru sinni: skorinn línskauta ok skip Þráins, járn ór afli, útleidda sál, kjötnefnda konu fyr neðan kvið.

Again I saw fly a second time: cut linen-square and Þráinn’s ship, iron from the forge, transcended soul, named flesh of a woman below the belly.

Mss: 625(77r), 743ˣ(103r), 167b 3ˣ(14r)

Readings: [2] öðru: so all others, öngan 625

Editions: Skj AII, 228, Skj BII, 248, Skald II, 129; SnE 1848, 239, LaufE 1979, 406.

Notes: [3] skorinn línskauta ‘cut linen-square’: In 743ˣ Árni Magnússon has added the solution ‘iadraki’ above the line. This is ON jaðrakárn (ModIcel. jaðrakan) ‘whimbrel’ (Numenius phaeopus). Cf. Þul Fugla 5/8. The pun is on the elements of the cpd: jaðarr ‘edge, border’, especially of cloth, and the bird-name kárn; it is not certain what species this represents, but it is listed in Þul Fugla 4/1 (see Note there). According to AEW: kárn, this word is likely related to ON kárr ‘curl, finely curled wool’. An alternative solution, after Lbs 1116 4°ˣ, is lóa ‘a discarded flock of wool, the shagginess of cloth’ and ‘sandpiper’ (CVC: ló II; lóð II). Línskauti is a hap. leg. in poetry. — [4] skip Þráins ‘Þráinn’s ship’: In Njáls saga (Nj ch. 82, ÍF 12, 200), Þráinn Sigfússon is given a ship by Hákon jarl Sigurðsson in Trondheim (ON Þrándheimr) as a reward for killing the outlaw Kolr. The ship has an ornamental mast-head in the form of a vulture and is called Gammr ‘Vulture’. Cf. Þul Fugla 1/1. — [5] járn ór afli ‘iron from the forge’: Perhaps helsingr ‘barnacle goose’ (Þul Fugla 1/4). ‘Iron from the forge’ is a sword (see LP: járn), and helsingr is listed among the sword-heiti in Þul Sverða 8/7 (see Note there), although is not found as a term for ‘sword’ elsewhere in the corpus. The word possibly derives from háls ‘neck’ (AEW: helsingr), and in her edn of the þulur in this volume Gurevich translates the sword-heiti ‘long-neck’, a fitting description for both a sword and a goose. Helsingr seems also to be the solution to Gát 3/4, although via a different play on words. Trani ‘crane’ and ǫrn ‘eagle’ also appear among the sword-heiti, Þul Sverða 6/4 and 8/3 respectively, without other attested usages as sword-terms in poetry. See also Notes to Þul Orma 2/4 and Þul Sverða 7/8. In 743ˣ Árni Magnússon has added ‘teistikofa’ above the line; this (spelled ‘þeistekofa’) is also added as a gloss above the line in 1562ˣ. This solution is printed in SnE 1848 without comment. ON þeisti (ModIcel. teista) is the guillemot (Cepphus grylle); cf. Þul Fugla 4/4 and Note. ON kofa is a young puffin. It is unclear, however, how this solution is reached from the clue. In Skj B Finnur Jónsson does not propose a solution, stating merely usikkert ‘uncertain’; in LP: afl he suggests hávella ‘long-tailed duck’ (Clangula hiemalis), arriving there via vella ‘to boil, bubble’ (cf. Note to Gát 3/9). The LaufE mss ÍBR 35 4°ˣ and Lbs 1116 4°ˣ suggest geirfugl ‘great auk’, literally ‘spear-bird’, so named for the shape of its beak. This seems to be closer to what is required, but the mss date from the first half of the C19th, making it difficult to claim that it was the original solution; however the word geirfugl and the variant geirfalki are both attested from the C14th. — [6] útleidda sál ‘transcended soul’: Another ofljóst substitution of homonyms: ǫnd ‘breath, life, spirit, soul’ and ǫnd ‘duck’ (Þul Fugla 2/2). This solution is written above the line in 1562ˣ. — [7-8]: Kjötnefnda ‘named flesh’, lit. ‘flesh-named’, an adj. (f. acc. sg.) qualifying konu ‘woman’ (l. 7). This is a hap. leg. and its meaning is not secure. However the meaning of the entire phrase is clear enough; the homonyms are gás ‘female sexual organs’ (AEW, Fritzner: gás 2) and gás ‘goose’. Ms. 1562ˣ has the gloss grágás, lit. ‘grey goose’.

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 = Sveinbjörn Egilsson, ed. 1848. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, eða Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál og Háttatal. Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja landsins.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
6. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
7. 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.
8. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
9. 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.
10. ÍF 12 = Brennu-Njáls saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1954.
11. Internal references
12. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Gátur 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 635.
13. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Njáls saga’ 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, pp. 1220-1313. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=55> (accessed 27 April 2024)
14. Not published: do not cite (ÞráS^V)
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 800.
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 802.
17. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804.
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orma heiti 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. 929.
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fugla 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. 952.
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fugla heiti 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. 953.
21. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fugla heiti 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 955.
22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Fugla heiti 5’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 956.
23. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10928> (accessed 27 April 2024)