Þul Viðar 3^III

Lind, lág ok linnr,         lyng, skíð, pera,
þǫll ok þyrnir,         þinurr, storð ok klungr,
mǫsurr ok grǫn tvenn         ok marhrísla,
ilstri, vínviðr,         jǫlstr, cípressus.

Lind, lág ok linnr, lyng, skíð, pera, þǫll ok þyrnir, þinurr, storð ok klungr, mǫsurr ok grǫn tvenn ok marhrísla, ilstri, vínviðr, jǫlstr, cípressus.

Linden, log and serpent, heather, firewood, pear-tree, fir and bramble, fir, sapling and wild briar, burl and two pines and mare-twig, willow, vine, willow, cípressus.

Mss: A(20r), B(9r), 744ˣ(79r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] linnr: linni B    [2] pera: fura B    [8] jǫlstr: ‘ióstr’ A, ‘jostr’ B;    cípressus: ‘cy᷎pressv[…]’ B, ‘cýpressus’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 682, Skj BI, 673, Skald I, 338; SnE 1848-87, II, 483, 566.

Notes: [All]: Of the tree-heiti listed in this stanza, linnr m. ‘serpent’ (l. 1), pera f. ‘pear-tree’ (l. 2), mǫsurr m. ‘burl’ (l. 5), grǫn n. ‘pines’ (l. 5), marhrísla f. lit. ‘mare-twig’ (l. 6), ilstri n. ‘willow’ (l. 7), vínviðr m. ‘vine’ (l. 7) and cípressus (l. 8) do not appear in poetry. — [1] lág (f.) ‘log’: A fallen tree or windfall. — [1] linnr (m.) ‘serpent’: As a heiti for ‘tree’ the word does not occur elsewhere, but it is given in this form in the LaufE mss as well (ms. B has ‘linne’). In poetry, linnr is usually a heiti for ‘serpent’ (Þul Orma 3/4; see also Þul Elds 2/2), and the sense ‘tree’ must be a figurative one, possibly caused by the resemblance of shape (?). Alternatively, the presence of a serpent-heiti in Þul Viðar could be explained by its attraction to the adjacent word in the list, lyng ‘heather’, since the latter is often used in kennings for ‘serpent’. The fact that this line has three alliterating staves (on <l>) may indicate scribal corruption at an early stage in the ms. transmission, however. — [3, 4] þyrnir; klungr ‘bramble; wild briar’: Both words (m.) are terms for thorny bushes, and it is not certain which exact species of such bushes they denote (ModNorw. klunger can refer both to bramble and to wild briar). — [4] þinurr (m.) ‘fir’: A tree of the Abies family. Þinurr could also denote a knot or hard area in fir or spruce wood (= ModIcel. þinur, New Norw. tenar, tinar). — [5] mǫsurr (m.) ‘burl’: This word denotes wood with burls or irregular rings, used for furniture and household items such as bowls (mǫsurbolli) and vessels (mǫsurker) (see AEW: mǫsurr; Fritzner: mösurr). The cpd mǫsurker is also attested in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: mǫsurker). — [6] marhrísla (f.) ‘mare-twig’: A hap. leg. This name has been explained as ‘birch-twigs tangled from being ridden by a mara’ (ÍO: marhrísla; cf. New Norw. marekvist, ModSwed. markvist), formed from mara f. ‘nightmare, ogress’ and hrísla f. ‘twig’ or ‘sprig of a branch’. — [7] ilstri (n.) ‘willow’: A hap. leg. in Old Norse, derived from Gmc *elistria (AEW: ilstri; cf. New Norw., ModSwed. dialects ilster ‘grey willow’, Salix cinerea). Morphologically the word is a collective noun, but cf. jǫlstr f. ‘willow’ in the next line. — [8] jǫlstr (m.) ‘willow’: In this þula the word is spelled (normalised) jóstr (so also the LaufE mss). Cf. ModIcel. jölstur ‘willow’, New Norw. ister, ModSwed. dialects jolster, jälster, juster ‘laurel willow’ (Salix pentandra), from Gmc *elustrō (AEW: jǫlstr). The word does not occur in Old Norse sources other than in the present stanza and in Guðr I 19/5-7 (NK 205): nú em ec svá lítil, | sem lauf sé | opt í iǫlstrom ‘now I am as small as a leaf often is on willows’. See also ilstri ‘willow’ in l. 7 above. — [8] cípressus: Like laurus in st. 2/5, this is a foreign word (= Lat. cypressus ‘cypress’; cf. the 744ˣ variant cýpressus). The word is not found in Old Norse, but cypressis tre ‘cypress tree’ is given in the C16th ms. of Nikuláss saga af Tólentínó (Loth 1969-70, II, 165).  See also Introduction to Anon Þulur.

References

1. Bibliography
2. 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.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
9. Loth, Agnete, ed. 1969-70. Reykjahólabók: Islandske helgenlegender. 2 vols. EA A 15-16. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
10. Internal references
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Elds 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. 922.
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orma 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. 931.
13. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Viðar 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. 880. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3229> (accessed 25 April 2024)
14. (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 25 April 2024)