Þul Trollkvenna 1^III

Skal ek trollkvenna         telja heiti:
Gríðr ok Gnissa,         Grýla, Brýja,
Glumra, Geitla,         Gríma ok Bakrauf,
Guma, Gestilja,         Grottintanna.

Ek skal telja heiti trollkvenna: Gríðr ok Gnissa, Grýla, Brýja, Glumra, Geitla, Gríma ok Bakrauf, Guma, Gestilja, Grottintanna.

I shall enumerate the names of troll-women: Gríðr and Gnissa, Grýla, Brýja, Glumra, Geitla, Gríma and Bakrauf, Guma, Gestilja, Grottintanna.

Mss: R(42r), Tˣ(44r), C(11r), A(17v), B(8r), 744ˣ(58v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Skal ek trollkvenna: ‘[…]kal […]k trollkuenn[…]’ B, ‘Skal ek troll kuenna’ 744ˣ    [2] telja heiti: inna heiti ok framtelja Tˣ, ‘telía hei[…]’ B, ‘telía heítí’ 744ˣ    [3] Gríðr: ‘Gryðr’ Tˣ, ‘g[…]r’ B, ‘griðr’ 744ˣ;    ok: om. Tˣ;    Gnissa: grísla C    [4] Grýla: grýla ok C, ‘[…]ry[…]a’ B, grýla 744ˣ;    Brýja: brynja C, brýla B    [6] ok: om. Tˣ;    Bakrauf: ‘b[…]ro᷎f’ B, ‘bakro᷎f’ 744ˣ    [7] Guma: ginna Tˣ, ‘g[…]ma’ B, guma 744ˣ;    Gestilja: ‘g[…]stilia’ B, ‘gestilía’ 744ˣ    [8] Grottintanna: ‘gro[…]n[…]a’ B, grottintanna 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 655, Skj BI, 659, Skald I, 324; SnE 1848-87, I, 551, II, 471, 554, 615, SnE 1931, 195, SnE 1998, I, 112.

Notes: [2] telja heiti ‘enumerate the names’: Ms. Tˣ has inna heiti ok framtelja ‘tell and enumerate the names’, which is unmetrical. — [3] Gríðr: Lit. ‘eager one’ (cf. gríð f. ‘frantic eagerness’). Gríðr was the mother of Óðinn’s son Víðarr and the friend of Þórr. She lent the latter a girdle of strength and her staff Gríðarvǫlr when he was on his way to the giant Geirrøðr (Skm, SnE 1998, I, 24-5). A troll-woman Gríðr is also known from Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra (FSN III, 653-6, 658-9) and she appears in Allra flagða þula ‘The þula of all trolls’ in Vilhjálms saga sjóðs (Loth 1962-5, IV, 67). This is the only name in this stanza that is frequently used in poetry. — [3] Gnissa: A hap. leg. Finnur Jónsson (1934-5, 306) connects the name with hnissa f. ‘ill flavour’, but cf. ModNorw. gnisse ‘rub, squeak, creak’ and ModSwed. dialectal gnissa ‘puff, shout’. According to de Vries (AEW: Gnissa), the name is most likely related to the weak verb gniða ‘rub’, hence perhaps ‘one who rubs’. The C variant, Grísla, is also a hap. leg. (for a possible meaning of that word, cf. ON gríss m. ‘pig’ and ModIcel. gríslingr ‘piglet’). — [4] Grýla: As the name of a troll-woman, the word must be the same as grýla, a vixen that, according to popular belief, steals children (see Þul Grýlu l. 4 and Note there). — [4] Brýja: A hap. leg. Perhaps derived from brý n. (?) ‘troll’, a word mentioned in ms. A(22r) (SnE 1848-87, II, 494). The meaning of both words is unclear. According to ÍO: brýja, they are probably related to ModIcel. brýja ‘rancid suet’; hence Brýja may be a scornful name meaning ‘greasy one’ or ‘stinking one’. The B variant reading brýla (cf. ModIcel. brýla ‘stink, fog’) is most likely connected with brýja, but brýla is not attested until C17th (ÍO: brýla). — [5] Glumra: Lit. ‘rattling one’ (cf. the weak verb glumra ‘rattle’). The name is also found as the second element of Járnglumra (st. 4/2), but does not occur elsewhere. — [5] Geitla: Cf. Geitir among the names of giants and sea-kings (Þul Sækonunga 1/7; Þul Jǫtna I 3/3). The name probably means ‘female goatherd’ or ‘little goat’ (cf. names of troll-women such as Hyndla lit. ‘small dog’ and Grísla; see Note to l. 3 above). It is not otherwise attested in skaldic poetry, but it appears once in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: Geitla). — [6] Gríma: Lit. ‘masked one’. As the name of a troll-woman, Gríma is mentioned only here and in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: gríma), but there are various female characters called Gríma in the fornaldarsögur. See also the giant-names Grímr and Grímnir (Þul Jǫtna I 1/6). In the þulur, gríma is also recorded as heiti for ‘helmet’ and ‘night’ (Þul Hjálms 2/3 and Þul Dœgra l. 5). — [6] Bakrauf: This name is not attested elsewhere. Possibly ‘one with a torn back’, from rauf f. ‘rift, hole’ (cf. the weak verb raufa ‘break up, open’) (Finnur Jónsson 1934-5, 304-5). Motz (1981, 503) translates it as ‘anus’. — [7] Guma: This troll-woman is not mentioned elsewhere, and the meaning of the heiti is obscure. Guma could be a weak f. form of gumi ‘man’ (so Motz 1981, 505); cf. ModSwed. gumma ‘old woman’ (see Hellquist 1970, I, 312). Finnur Jónsson (1934-5, 306) connects it with the weak verb guma ‘make a great fuss about sth., exaggerate’ (cf. ModIcel. gum n. ‘bragging’; ÍO: Guma). According to that interpretation, Guma would mean ‘braggart’, but a connection with the giant-name Gymir (see Note to Þul Jǫtna I 1/8) cannot be excluded. The Tˣ variant Ginna is most likely related to the weak verb ginna ‘dupe, fool sby’, ‘intoxicate’. — [7] Gestilja: This name is otherwise attested only once, in EGils Selv 5/6^IV, where it means ‘monster’ and may be a common noun (LP: Gestilja). This troll-woman could be the female counterpart of the sea-king Gestill (from gestr m. ‘guest’; Þul Sea-kings l. 2 and Þul Sækonunga 1/6) (so Motz 1981, 505). Alternatively, Finnur Jónsson (1934-5, 306) suggests that -ilja may be a derivative from il f. ‘sole of the foot’, but the meaning of the word remains obscure. — [8] Grottintanna: A hap. leg. The m. noun grottintanni is a pejorative man’s name in the rímur (see ÍO: Grottintanna). The name may mean ‘one with rotten teeth’ (cf. ModIcel. grotna niðr ‘rot away’; so Finnur Jónsson 1934-5, 304). Motz (1981, 502) connects the first element of the cpd with the mythical mill Grotti. For grottintanna ‘gap-toothed’, another suggested meaning, see AEW: Grottintanna.

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. 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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Loth, Agnete, ed. 1962-5. Late Medieval Icelandic Romances. 5 vols. EA B 20-4. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
12. Hellquist, Elof. 1970. Svensk etymologisk ordbok. 3rd edn. Lund: Gleerup.
13. Finnur Jónsson. 1934-5. ‘Þulur: Søkonge- og jættenavneremserne’. APS 9, 289-308.
14. Motz, Lotte. 1981. ‘Giantesses and Their Names’. FS 15, 495-511.
15. Internal references
16. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ 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=112> (accessed 25 April 2024)
17. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for sea-kings’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 987. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1045> (accessed 25 April 2024)
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga 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. 678.
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti I 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. 707.
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hjálms 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. 830.
21. Not published: do not cite (EGils Selv 5^IV)
22. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Dœgra 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. 914. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3231> (accessed 25 April 2024)
23. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Grýlu 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. 965. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3244> (accessed 25 April 2024)
24. Not published: do not cite ()
25. Not published: do not cite ()