Þul Þorgþ II 1^III

Gamalla øxna nǫfn         hefk gǫrla fregit:
þeira Rauðs ok Hœfis,         Rekinn ok Kýrr,
Himinhrjóðr ok Apli,         Arfr ok Arfuni.

Hefk gǫrla fregit nǫfn gamalla øxna: þeira Rauðs ok Hœfis, Rekinn ok Kýrr, Himinhrjóðr ok Apli, Arfr ok Arfuni.

I have learned precisely the names of ancient oxen: of Rauðr and Hœfir, Rekinn and Kýrr, Himinhrjóðr and Apli, Arfr ok Arfuni.

Mss: R(37v), Tˣ(39r), U(40r), C(6v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] nǫfn: heiti U    [2] gǫrla fregit: so Tˣ, U, gerða R, gjǫrla talit C    [3] þeira: þeira er C;    Hœfis: ‘hefis’ Tˣ, ‘hefiss’ U, ‘hæfrs’ C    [4] Rekinn: Reginn U;    Kýrr: hýr Tˣ, ‘hlyrr’ U    [5] Himinhrjóðr: so C, himins hrjótr R, himins rjótr Tˣ, himinrjóðr U;    Apli: ‘arfli’ U, atli C    [6] Arfuni: ‘arfvínír’ C

Editions: Skj AI, 650, Skj BI, 656, Skald I, 321, NN §2158A; SnE 1848-87, I, 484, II, 352, 595, SnE 1931, 171, SnE 1998, I, 90, NK 319.

Notes: [All]: The first two heiti are in the gen., matching the case of nǫfn gamalla øxna ‘the names of ancient oxen’ (l. 1), and the remaining heiti are in the nom. — [All]: In Skj B, Finnur Jónsson (followed by Kock in Skald) renders this stanza in ljóðaháttr metre (see Þorgþ I 2-3 above), emending our ll. 3-4 and giving l. 6 as a full line with internal alliteration:

Gamalla øxna nǫfn,      hefk gǫrla fregit
      þeira Rauðs ok Rekins,
Hœfir ok Hýrr,      Himinhrjóðr ok Apli,
      Arfr ok Arfuni.

This reconstruction has little or no support in the ms. witnesses, and Finnur’s l. 3 appears to be based on his reading of Þul Øxna 1/7, which has the pair rauðr ok rekningr (lit. ‘red one and driven one’). The last heiti in that line, rekningr, is most likely a variant of Rekinn, but that form is not attested in any of the extant mss of Þorgþ II. The present edn follows the metrical arrangement of the mss witnesses, which give the stanza as a sequence of long-lines (so also SnE 1998). To be sure, one of the resulting lines (l. 6) is metrically irregular, and it may be that some of the names in the þula have been moved out of their original positions, but that cannot be ascertained. — [3] Rauðs ok Hœfis ‘of Rauðr and Hœfir’: The first name means ‘red one’ (see also Þul Øxna 1/7), but the sense of the second name is problematic – possibly ‘hoofed one’ from hófr m. ‘hoof’ (for other suggested interpretations, see AEW: hœfir; LP: hœfir). Hœfir appears as an ox-name in Þul Øxna 2/3 and also twice in kennings for ‘horn’ (Þjóð Yt 14/15^I and HaukrV Ísldr 16/5^IV). — [4] Rekinn: Lit. ‘driven one’, from the p. p. of the strong verb reka ‘drive’ (see also rekningr ‘driven one’, Þul Øxna 1/7 and Note to [All] above). The U variant, Reginn ‘potent one’, is also listed as a heiti in Þul Øxna 1/5 (cf. regin n. pl. ‘gods, divine powers’ and Reginn, a dwarf-name in Þul Dverga 6/4). None of these variants occurs in other sources. — [4] Kýrr: A hap. leg. Presumably a m. form of kýr f. ‘cow’; if so, ‘ox’ (so LP: kýrr; on gender conversion in the þulur, see Gurevich 1992a). The Tˣ variant hýr(r) ‘glad one, mild one’ makes good sense as well, but, like kýrr, it is unattested in other sources. The reading Hýrr was adopted for metrical reasons in Skj B and Skald (see Note to [All] above), but from a metrical point of view that is not necessary. — [5] Himinhrjóðr: Most likely identical with Himinhrjótr in Gylf (SnE 2005, 44), where it is the largest ox in the giant Hymir’s herd. In the mss this name is recorded in a number of variants: (a) Himinhrjóðr (so C and adopted in Skj B, Skald and the present edn), which can be translated as ‘sky-devastator’ with the second element derived from the strong verb hrjóða ‘strip, clear’ (so Kahle 1903, 173-4; Finnur Jónsson (LP: Himinhrjóðr) interprets the name as ‘one with horns so high that they pierce the sky’). (b) Himin(s)hrjótr (so R and ms. Tˣ of Þul Øxna 2/1 as well as Gylf) from the strong verb hrjóta ‘fall, fly, be flung’, hence ‘one who is throwing himself towards the sky’, or from the strong verb (h)rjóta ‘snore, rumble, grunt’ (cf. ms. Tˣ and himinrjótr in ms. R of Þul Øxna 2/1), perhaps ‘sky-snorter’ (see SnE 1998, II, 475). (c) Himinrjóðr (so U) lit. ‘sky-reddener’ and (d) himinbrjótr ‘sky-destroyer’ (so ms. A of Þul Øxna). None of these variants occurs in poetic sources other than the þulur. — [5] Apli: Cf. aplakálfr m. ‘aborted or new-born calf’ and aplalamb n. ‘aborted or new-born lamb’. Apli m. is an embryo of animals (see CVC: apli). The word must refer to ‘calf’; hence it is not derived from apaldr m. ‘apple tree’ and to be taken in the meaning ‘dappled’ (see the discussions in AEW: apli and apaldr, epli). In Old Norse poetry this ox-name is given only here and in Þul Øxna 3/1, but it is attested in the rímur as a heiti for ‘ox’ (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: apli). It is also a horse-name (see Note to Þul Hesta 4/3). — [6]: The pattern of alliteration in this line is unmetrical (two alliterating staves in an even line; see Note to [All] above). — [6] Arfr: Several explanations for this heiti have been suggested (see AEW: arfr 2). Most likely it is the same word as arfr m. ‘inheritance’, which is supported by ModSwed. dialects arv, orv ‘ox-yoke’ and OE orf ‘cattle’ (see NN §2158A; for the semantic development cf. fé ‘cattle’ > ‘property, money’). The name is also given in Þul Øxna 2/7 (cf. the next Note), but it is not otherwise attested in poetry as an ox-heiti. — [6] Arfuni: Perhaps lit. ‘heir’. As an ox-name the word is also recorded in Þul Øxna 3/4 but not found elsewhere. The pair Arfr ok Arfuni ‘Arfr and Arfuni’ most likely points to a semantic connection between these two heiti: ‘inheritance/cattle’ – ‘heir/bull’ (cf. NN §2158A). Alternatively, de Vries (AEW: arfr 2) suggests that arfuni (or ǫrfuni, so ms. A, Þul Øxna 3/4) might be derived from the root erf- in erfiði n. ‘toil, burden’ with the suffix ‑uni (from the weak verb una ‘be content with, be happy with’). If so, the name would mean ‘content with toil’.

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. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
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. Gurevich, Elena A. 1992a. ‘Skaldische Synonymik und ihre Interpretation in der frühen isländischen gelehrten Poetik: Über eine Systematisierungsmöglichkeit der Heiti in den Þulur’. In Popowa 1992, 15-30.
10. 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.
11. NK = Neckel, Gustav and Hans Kuhn (1899), eds. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 2 vols. I: Text. 5th edn. Heidelberg: Winter.
12. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
13. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
15. Kahle, Bernhard. 1903. ‘Altwestnordische Namenstudien’. IF 14, 133-224.
16. Internal references
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ 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=113> (accessed 7 May 2024)
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Þorgrímsþula I 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. 672.
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Dverga 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. 704.
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxna 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. 885.
21. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxna 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. 887.
22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Øxna heiti 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. 888.
23. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hesta 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. 939.
24. Not published: do not cite (HaukrV Ísldr 16^IV)
25. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Øxna heiti’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 885. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3210> (accessed 7 May 2024)
26. Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Ynglingatal 14’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 31.