Þul Hesta 4^III

Móinn, hestr, fjǫtri,         Móðnir, róni,
alsvartr, apli,         askr, malfeti,
Blóðhófr, Hamskarpr,         brúnn, Hófvarpnir,
viggr, Skinfaxi,         virfill, Hrímfaxi.

Móinn, hestr, fjǫtri, Móðnir, róni, alsvartr, apli, askr, malfeti, Blóðhófr, Hamskarpr, brúnn, Hófvarpnir, viggr, Skinfaxi, virfill, Hrímfaxi.

Brown one, horse, fettered one, Móðnir, gelding, all-black one, foal, ash-tree, gravel-pacer, Blóðhófr, Hamskarpr, black one, Hófvarpnir, steed, Skinfaxi, virfill, Hrímfaxi.

Mss: A(20v), B(9v), 744ˣ(87r) (SnE)

Readings: [2] róni: ‘ro[…]’ B, ‘roni’ 744ˣ    [7] viggr: vigr A, vígr B

Editions: Skj AI, 686, Skj BI, 676, Skald I, 340, NN §1078, 2157B; SnE 1848-87, II, 487, 571.

Notes: [1] móinn (m.) ‘brown one’: The word is not found elsewhere as a horse-heiti. It could be derived from the adj. mór ‘brown’ (so LP: móinn; cf. Mór in st. 3/8 and see Note to Anon Þorgþ I 1/7). Alternatively, móinn has been derived from mór m. ‘moor, heath’ (hence, lit. ‘one that belongs to the heath’; so AEW: Móinn). If the latter explanation is correct, this horse-heiti may well originally be a term for ‘serpent’, transferred from a list of serpent-heiti (cf. Þul Orma 4/7 and Note there). — [1] fjǫtri (m.) ‘fettered one’: A hap. leg. (cf. fjǫturr m. ‘fetter’ and the weak verb fjǫtra ‘fetter’). — [2] Móðnir: Lit. ‘fierce one’. This is Dvalinn’s horse in Anon Kálfv 1/2 (see Note there), but the word is not attested elsewhere. — [2] róni (m.) ‘gelding’: A hap. leg. The form and meaning of this heiti are obscure. Róni could be related to MLG rūne ‘gelding’ (adopted in this edn; see AEW: róni and cf. New Norw. rone, ModNorw. råne ‘boar’) or it could be a corrupt form of reini m. ‘stallion’ (ÍO: róni 1). Alternatively, the horse-heiti could possibly be connected with rúni m. ‘confidant’ (see Þul Manna 6/7). — [3] alsvartr (m.) ‘all-black one’: As a horse-heiti the word does not occur elsewhere, but in eddic poetry the adj. alsvartr is an epithet for ‘ox’ (Þry 23/3 and Hym 18/8). Hence the heiti could have been confused with a heiti for ‘ox’ (the latter are sometimes recorded in the present þula, e.g. apli ‘foal’ l. 3 below; see also Note to st. 3/7 above). Alsvartr is also the name of a giant (Þul Jǫtna I 4/7). — [3] apli (m.) ‘foal’: As a horse-heiti the word is found only here. For the meaning ‘foal’, see Note to Anon Þorgþ II l. 5. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 235) gives the translation ‘dapple’, but that interpretation is dubious (see AEW: apli). Apli is also a heiti for ‘ox’ (Þul Øxna 3/1, Anon Þorgþ II l. 5). — [4] askr (m.) ‘ash-tree’: This horse-heiti is attested only in the present þula. The connection between ‘ash-tree’ and ‘steed’ is unclear, unless the horse-heiti refers to the mythical ash Yggdrasill, i.e. ‘Yggr’s <= Óðinn’s> horse’. — [4] malfeti (m.) ‘gravel-pacer’: Or mál-. The form and the meaning of the first element of this otherwise unattested cpd are unclear. Kock (NN §1078A; Skald) argues that the first component in malfeti is mǫl f. ‘gravel’, thus the meaning of the heiti might be ‘one treading the gravel’ (adopted in the present edn). Finnur Jónsson (LP: malmfeti), emends to malmfeti lit. ‘iron-pacer’ (perhaps referring to a shoed horse), but the evidence he adduces in support of that emendation, Steinunn Lv 2/6^V, is inconclusive (the mss have the variants ‘malm-’ and ‘mal-’). — [5] Blóðhófr: Lit. ‘blood-hoof’ (m.). See Note to Blóðughófi in Anon Þorgþ I 3/1. Neither form appears elsewhere in poetry as heiti for ‘horse’. — [5] Hamskarpr: This name translates as ‘skin-sharp one’ (or perhaps ‘one thin in the flank’, from hamr m. ‘skin, shape’ and the adj. skarpr ‘sharp’; CVC: hamskarpr). The cpd is not attested elsewhere but must be a variant of Hamskerpir, the name of a horse and the father of Hófvarpnir mentioned in l. 6 below (cf. SnE 2005, 30). — [6] brúnn (m.) ‘black one’: As a horse-heiti, the word is not found in poetry, but the adj. brúnn usually denotes black horses. Brúnn is also the proper name of a black horse (see CVC: brúnn). — [6] Hófvarpnir: Lit. ‘hoof-thrower’, from húfr m. ‘hoof’ and a nomen actionis from the strong verb verpa ‘throw’. The mythical horse belonging to Frigg’s messenger Gná, which is said to gallop across the sky and the sea (rendered as Hófvarfnir in Gylf, SnE 2005, 30). The name does not occur in skaldic poetry. — [7] viggr (m.) ‘steed’: See vigg in st. 2/7 above and Note to Anon Þorgþ I 2/1. Viggr, a later form of vigg, has been emended from vigr/vígr (A, B) (so Nj 1875-89, II, 397 n., Skj B and AEW: vigg, viggr; see also Gurevich 1992a, 21). Kock (NN §2157B; Skald) adopts vígr ‘warlike one’ or ‘swift one’ (from the adj. vígr ‘battle-ready’). — [7] Skinfaxi: Already mentioned in st. 1/7. — [8] virfill (m.): An obscure word. According to ÍO: virfill 1, the original meaning could have been ‘flexible, supple one’, and the common noun virfill also means ‘rod’ and ‘phallus’ (AEW: Virfill). As a horse-heiti the word appears only in the present stanza, but Virfill is also the name of a sea-king (Þul Sækonunga 5/1). — [8] Hrímfaxi: Lit. ‘rime-maned one’ (m.); the first element is from hrím n. ‘rime’ and the second from fax n. ‘mane’. This is one of the mythical horses that pull the Night (see Note to st. 2/2 above). The name is otherwise not attested in skaldic poetry.

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. Nj 1875-89 = Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson. 1875-89. Njála: Udgivet efter gamle håndskrifter. Íslendingasögur udgivne efter gamle haandskrifter af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-selskab 4. Copenhagen: Thiele.
5. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
7. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
8. 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.
9. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
10. 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.
11. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
12. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
13. SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
14. Internal references
15. (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 19 April 2024)
16. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Þorgrímsþula 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. 670.
17. 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.
18. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Þorgrímsþula I 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. 674.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kálfsvísa 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. 664.
20. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga 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. 685.
21. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jǫtna heiti I 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. 713.
22. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Manna 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. 781.
23. 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.
24. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Orma 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. 933.
25. Not published: do not cite ()
26. Not published: do not cite ()
27. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Þorgrímsþula II’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 675. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3181> (accessed 19 April 2024)
28. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 40 (Steinunn Refs (Dálks)dóttir, Lausavísur 2)’ 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. 1273.