Þul Grýlu 1^III

Skolli, slapparðr         ok Skaufhali,
skollr, melrakki,         skaufi, Grýla;
enn es refr ok Skrǫggr,         ǫldungr, dáinn,
laufafettir,         fóa, brunnmigi.

Skolli, slapparðr ok Skaufhali, skollr, melrakki, skaufi, Grýla; enn es refr ok Skrǫggr, ǫldungr, dáinn, laufafettir, fóa, brunnmigi.

Skulker, weakling and Skaufhali, deceiver, arctic fox, tailed one, Grýla; further there is fox and Skrǫggr, elder, deceased one, leaf-pacer, fox, spring-pisser.

Mss: A(21r) (SnE)

Readings: [2] Skaufhali: ‘skaufali’ A

Editions: Skj AI, 688, Skj BI, 678, Skald I, 342; SnE 1848-87, II, 490.

Notes: [1] skolli (m.) ‘skulker’: A folklore fox (cf. the weak verb skolla ‘deceive, trick, ridicule’) that often appears in Icelandic nursery tales and games (cf. CVC: skolli). The word is not found in skaldic verse. — [1] slapparðr (m.) ‘weakling’: A hap. leg. derived from slappi m. ‘weakling, lanky fellow’, which may have been a word of abuse. — [2] Skaufhali: Lit. ‘tassel-tail’, from skauf n. ‘sheaf of corn’ (hence metaphorically ‘sheaf-like tail’, ‘fox’s brush’; cf. CVC: skauf) and hali m. ‘tail’; cf. skaufi ‘tailed one’, l. 4 below). Skaufhali is first and foremost known as the protagonist of Skaufhala bálkr (‘Bálkr about Tassel-tail’; Svart Skauf^VIII). In that poem, the fox is humanised as an old outlaw mortally wounded on his last hunt, and he recites his ævikviða ‘life-poem’ to his wife, detailing his life before he dies.  — [3] skollr (m.) ‘deceiver’: An otherwise unattested variant of skolli ‘skulker’ (l. 1 above). — [3] melrakki (m.) ‘arctic fox’: The literal meaning of this word is ‘sand-bank dog’ (LP: melrakki ‘stenbankens hund’). The word does not occur in Old Norse poetry. — [4] skaufi (m.) ‘tailed one’: This word is also attested in the rímur as a heiti for ‘fox’ (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: 2. skaufi). See also Skaufhali in l. 2 above. — [4] Grýla: A folklore vixen, an ogre that kidnaps children (see Introduction). It is described as follows in Loptr Lv^IV: Hér ferr Grýla | í garð ofan | ok hefr á sér | hala fimtán ‘Here comes Grýla down to the yard, and it has fifteen tails’. For the meaning of this name, cf. MHG griuwel ‘fear’ (ÍO: grýla). — [5] Skrǫggr: A son of Grýla and a folklore monster giant or goblin famous from Icelandic nursery tales (cf. New Norw. skrogg ‘wolf’, ModSwed. dialects skragge ‘devil’; see ÍO: skröggur 1). The name does not occur in skaldic poetry. — [6] ǫldungr (m.) ‘elder’: Cf. ǫldungr m. ‘famous man’. This word is also a term for ‘ox’ (see Þul Øxna 3/3 and Note there), but it is not found elsewhere as a heiti for ‘fox’. — [6] dáinn (m.) ‘deceased one’: P. p. of the strong verb deyja ‘die’. As a term for ‘fox’, the heiti is mentioned only in this þula. It is also a heiti for ‘dwarf’ (in the Hb version of Vsp, Hb  1892-6, 188-9) and for ‘stag’ (see Note to Þul Hjartar l. 3). — [7] laufafettir (m.) ‘leaf-pacer’: An otherwise unattested cpd from lauf n. ‘leaf’ and the strong verb feta ‘step, find one’s way’, hence perhaps ‘one finding its way among the leaves’ (or ‑fættir ‘one that destroys leaves’; see LP: laufafettir). The line is metrically irregular, since alliteration apparently falls on the second element of the cpd. — [8] fóa (f.) ‘fox’: This is a Germanic term for ‘fox’ (Gmc *fuhōn, Goth. fauho ‘fox’). In Old Norse the word is found only in the present stanza, but the Orkney form fúa (= ON fóa) is attested once in Anon Mhkv 18/2^III. Cf. also the Modern Icelandic p. n. Fóey lit. ‘fox-island’ (ÍO: fóa, fúa). — [8] brunnmigi (m.) ‘spring-pisser’: A kind of folklore hobgoblin who polluted drinking water by urinating in springs and wells (CVC: brunnmigi; cf. Hálf ch. 5, FSN II, 29). The heiti, from brunnr m. ‘spring, well’ and the strong verb míga ‘piss’, is not found in skaldic verse.

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. 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. 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.
8. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
9. Internal references
10. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 303. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=75> (accessed 27 April 2024)
11. Roberta Frank (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Poems, Málsháttakvæði 18’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1232.
12. 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.
13. Not published: do not cite (Loptr Lv^IV)
14. Not published: do not cite ()
15. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hjartar 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. 898. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3214> (accessed 27 April 2024)
16. Kari Ellen Gade 2017, ‘ Svartr á Hofstöðum, Skaufhala bálkr’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 948. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3349> (accessed 27 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hemings þáttr Áslákssonar’ 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=10292> (accessed 27 April 2024)
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hauksbók’ in Guðrún Nordal (ed.), Poetry on Icelandic History. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 4. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10935> (accessed 27 April 2024)