Þul Øxar 1^III

Øx, járnsparða         ok jarðhyrna,
skjáfa ok skeggja,         skráma ok genja,
reginspǫnn, Gnepja,         gýgr ok fála,
snaga ok búlda,         barða ok vígglǫð,
þveita ok þenja;         þá es arghyrna;
hon es øfst talið         øxar heita.

Øx, járnsparða ok jarðhyrna, skjáfa ok skeggja, skráma ok genja, reginspǫnn, Gnepja, gýgr ok fála, snaga ok búlda, barða ok vígglǫð, þveita ok þenja; þá es arghyrna; hon es talið øfst heita øxar.

Axe, iron-axe and earth-horn, scraper and bearded one, skráma and gaper, mighty-span, Gnepja, ogress and troll-woman, spiked one and bulging one, whiskered one and battle-bright one, hewer and stretching one; then there is weak-horn; this is listed as the last of the names for axe.

Mss: R(43r), Tˣ(45r), C(12r), A(18v-19r), B(8v), 744ˣ(69v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Øx: so Tˣ, C, A, øx ok R, ‘[…]vx’ B, ‘Avx’ 744ˣ;    járnsparða: so Tˣ, jarðsparða R, C, jarðhyrna A, B    [2] ok: om. all;    jarðhyrna: hyrna R, Tˣ, C, om. A, B    [3] skjáfa: ‘skiarua’ C;    ok: om. Tˣ, C    [4] skráma: ok skráma C;    ok: om. Tˣ, C;    genja: gnepja C    [5] regin‑: ok regin‑ C;    ‑spǫnn (‘‑spavnn’): ‘‑sponn’ Tˣ, ‘‑spunn’ C, ‘‑spǫrn’ A, ‘spo᷎rn’ B;    Gnepja: ok gnepja C, ‘gnæfia’ A, ‘gnefia’ B    [6] gýgr ok fála: gýgr fála Tˣ, ok gýgr fála A, B    [7] snaga: ok snaga A, B;    ok: om. Tˣ, A, B    [8] ok: om. Tˣ, A, B;    víg‑: vigg‑ A    [9] þveita: ‘þuita’ C, ‘þvætta’ A;    ok: om. Tˣ    [10] þá es (‘þa er’): om. Tˣ    [11] hon: om. Tˣ;    øfst talið: so A, ‘ǫst’ R, ‘ofst’ Tˣ, ‘efz’ C, ‘efzt’ B;    talið: so A, talin all others    [12] øxar: øxa C

Editions: Skj AI, 665, Skj BI, 664, Skald I, 329; SnE 1848-87, I, 569, II, 477, 561, 620-1, SnE 1931, 203, SnE 1998, I, 121.

Notes: [All]: Some of the heiti listed in this þula (e.g. Gnepja, l. 5, gýgr ‘ogress’ and fála ‘troll-woman’, l. 6) are terms or names for troll-women, and all heiti are f. According to Skm (SnE 1998, I, 67), these heiti are formally half-kennings: øxar kalla menn trǫllkvinna heitum ok kenna við blóð eða benjar eða skóg eða við ‘people call axes by the names of troll-women and qualify them with terms for blood or wounds or forest or tree’. — [1-2]: Skj B and Skald render these lines as Øx, jarðhyrna | ok járnsparða ‘Axe, earth-horn and iron-axe’. The long-line is defective in both main groups of mss. In l. 1 in A and B, Øx is followed by the heiti jarðhyrna ‘earth-horn’, and R, C have jarðsparða ‘earth-axe’. Ms. Tˣ and the LaufE mss give járnsparða ‘iron-axe’, as in the present edn. Line 2 is defective in all mss. Mss R, Tˣ, C and the LaufE mss have hyrna ‘horn, corner of an axe’, which leaves the line hypometrical without alliteration, and the line is omitted in A and B (but cf. hyrna in jarðhyrna in the previous line in these mss). The compounds járn-(jarð)sparða and jarðhyrna appear to have been confused at an early point in the ms. transmission owing to the similarity of their first elements. Both terms are required to produce a regular line, however, and because Tˣ agrees with the LaufE mss here (perhaps from a no-longer extant ms.), the order járnsparða, jarðhyrna has been adopted in the present edn. — [1] járnsparða (f.) ‘iron-axe’: This cpd is not found elsewhere. Sparða is a kind of Irish axe (< OIr. sparth, a long-handed broad-bladed battle-axe), although the Old Irish word itself may be a loan from ON barða (Falk 1914b, 112; AEW: sparða). Cf. ModEngl. sparth (now obsolete). — [2] ok ‘and’: This connective is missing in all mss (but see the R variant of l. 1). It has been added here for metrical reasons (to avoid a hypometrical line). — [2] jarðhyrna (f.) ‘earth-horn’: This cpd, which is not attested elsewhere, most likely denotes an axe with a horned blade whose horn (hyrna f. ‘horn, corner of an axe-head’, Falk 1914b, 107-8) was so long that it touched the ground (cf. skeggja ‘bearded one’, l. 3). — [3] skjáfa (f.): The heiti is a hap. leg. This is an obscure word, and the reading skjáfa found in most of the mss, including the LaufE mss, may be corrupt. According to Falk (1914b, 115), the correct form of this heiti is stjarna f. ‘star’, because an axe of this name is mentioned in Sturlunga saga (Stu 1946, I, 433, 438). Falk’s view finds no support among other scholars. AEW: skjáfa suggests an emended form skafa (from the strong verb skafa ‘scrape’; if so, lit. ‘scraper’), whereas ÍO: skjáfa adopts the C variant skjarva (cf. OE sceorfan ‘bite’ and OHG scarbōn ‘cut’); hence ‘one that bites or gnaws, cutter’ (SnE 1998, II, 392). — [3] skeggja (f.) ‘bearded one’: The heiti is derived from skegg n. ‘beard’ (cf. barða ‘whiskered one’, l. 8.) and seems to be the term for an axe or a halberd with a long lower point on the blade. The word is not attested elsewhere as a heiti for ‘axe’. — [4] skráma (f.): The word is possibly related to Goth. skrama ‘sword, knife’, Old Frankish scramasax (cf. the strong verb skera ‘cut’; AEW: skráma 2 and skera), although the difference in vowel quantity ([a:] and [a]) cannot be explained. It is possible that the long vowel in ON skráma could have been influenced by Skráma, the name of a troll-woman (Gunnars saga Keldugnúpsfífls, ÍF 14, 362; Falk 1914b, 115). — [4] genja (f.) ‘gaper’: As a heiti for ‘axe’ the word is not found elsewhere, but it occurs as a nickname and as the second element of the ship-name Brandagenja (Falk 1914b, 115). The meaning of this word is either ‘gaper’ (cf. the weak verb gana ‘stare, gape’; AEW: genja) or ‘towering one’, used of a large frightening female creature (SnE 1998, II, 286). — [5] reginspǫnn (f.) ‘mighty-span’: A cpd formed from regin- ‘divine powers’ (also used as first element in compounds in the sense ‘powerful, mighty’) and spǫnn ‘span’ (as a measure). It is not clear how this can be a term for ‘axe’ – Falk (1914b, 115) tentatively suggests that it refers to a very broad axe. The heiti is not attested elsewhere. — [5] Gnepja: This heiti is the name of a troll-woman, and the word is attested only in the þulur. See Note to Þul Trollkvenna 2/3. The A, B variants ‘gnæfia’ and ‘gnefia’ (the latter is also the form found in the LaufE mss) are also possible (derived from the weak verb gnæva ‘rise up, tower’ or from the adj. gnæfr ‘towering’). — [6] gýgr (f.) ‘ogress’: This heiti occurs as a base-word in kennings for ‘axe’ (see Note to [All] above), but it is never found in skaldic verse as a term for ‘axe’, although Gýgr (Rimmugýgr) is the name of Skarpheðinn’s axe in Nj (chs 92, 120, 145-6, ÍF 12, 233, 304, 403). Hence it cannot be excluded that it is a proper name in the present þula as well. — [6] fála (f.) ‘troll-woman’: See Note to [All] and Þul Trollkvenna 3/2. — [7] snaga (f.) ‘spiked one’: Most likely the same as snaghyrna (ÍO: snaga 1) or snaghyrnd øx, i.e. ‘an axe with sharply curved or hook-like points on a crescent-shaped or D-shaped blade’ (so SnE 1998, II, 397; Falk 1914b, 107-8, 202). Snaghyrnd øx is often mentioned in sagas, but the simplex snaga is found only in this þula and as a proper name in Sturlunga saga (Stu 1946, I, 327). — [7] búlda (f.) ‘bulging one’: In Old Norse this name does not occur elsewhere, but cf. ModIcel. Búlda, the name of a sheep (‘with a large head’, Falk 1914b, 115) and búldinn m. ‘chubby’. Hence the heiti refers to the shape of the blade. — [8] barða (f.) ‘whiskered one’: This heiti is probably semantically similar to skeggja ‘bearded one’ (l. 3 above) or skeggøx ‘bearded axe’ and, if so, derived from barð n. ‘beard’. Alternatively, it may be a loanword (< MLG barde ‘axe’, cf. OS barda, OHG barta; see Falk 1914b, 109-10). The word is otherwise not attested in Old Norse. — [8] vígglǫð (f.) ‘battle-bright one’: Or ‘battle-glad one’, from víg n. and the adj. glaðr ‘glad, bright’. This heiti is not found in poetry, but cf. the shield-heiti vígglaðr m. ‘battle-bright one’ (Þul Skjaldar 1/8). Vígglǫð is also the name of a troll-woman (Þul Trollkvenna 5/5). Alternatively, the word may be a characterising heiti invented for the þulur and applied to several referents (on this type of heiti, see Gurevich 1992c). — [9] þveita (f.) ‘hewer’: The word, which is not otherwise attested as a heiti for ‘axe’ in Old Norse, is derived from the weak verb þveita ‘hew, cut’; hence ‘hewer, cutter’ (Falk 1914b, 115). It is possible that the heiti was used in the rímur (see Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: þveita 2). — [9] þenja (f.) ‘stretching one’: The heiti is derived from the weak verb þenja ‘stretch, extend’ (Falk 1914b, 115) and most likely denotes a very broad axe (cf. also SnE 1998, II, 433). This heiti does not appear in Old Norse poetry, but it is attested in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: þenja). — [10, 11] arghyrna ... øfst (f.) ‘weak-horn ... the last’: While the other mss have (normalised) øfst ‘last’, the reading in ms. R is (normalised) œzt ‘the highest’, which hardly fits the sense of arghyrna lit. ‘weak-horn’ (from the adj. argr ‘wretch, coward’ and hyrna ‘horn, corner of an axe’, see l. 1 above; Falk 1914b, 115). The heiti is otherwise known only from one of Skallagrímr’s lausavísur (Skall Lv 3/5^V (Eg 6)), where it is a pejorative name for a defective snaghyrnd øx (on the latter term, see Note to l. 7 above).

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. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. Gurevich, Elena A. 1992c. ‘Þulur in Skáldskaparmál: An Attempt at Skaldic Lexicology’. ANF 107, 35-52.
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. Falk, Hjalmar. 1914b. Altnordische Waffenkunde. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter, II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1914, 6. Kristiania (Oslo): Dybwad.
10. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
11. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
12. ÍF 12 = Brennu-Njáls saga. Ed. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson. 1954.
13. ÍF 14 = Kjalnesinga saga. Ed. Jóhannes Halldórsson. 1959.
14. Stu 1946 = Jón Jóhannesson, Magnús Finnbogason and Kristján Eldjárn, eds. 1946. Sturlunga saga. 2 vols. Reykjavík: Sturlungaútgáfan.
15. Internal references
16. 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 26 April 2024)
17. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Sturlunga saga’ 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=88> (accessed 26 April 2024)
18. (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 26 April 2024)
19. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna 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. 725.
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna 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. 727.
21. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Trollkvenna 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. 730.
22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Skjaldar 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. 823.
23. Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2022, ‘Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar 6 (Skallagrímr Kveldúlfsson, Lausavísur 3)’ 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, p. 172.
24. Not published: do not cite ()
25. (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 26 April 2024)