Þul Sjóvar 4^III

Hefring, alda,         hvítingr ok lá,
Hrǫnn, Rán, Kolga         ok Himinglæva,
Drǫfn, Uðr ok solmr,         Dúfa, Bylgja,
boði ok Bára,         Blóðughadda.

Hefring, alda, hvítingr ok lá, Hrǫnn, Rán, Kolga ok Himinglæva, Drǫfn, Uðr ok solmr, Dúfa, Bylgja, boði ok Bára, Blóðughadda.

Hefring, wave, white one and shore-line, Hrǫnn, Rán, Kólga and Himinglæva, Drǫfn, Uðr and sweller, Dúfa, Bylgja, shoal and Bára, Blóðughadda.

Mss: R(43v), Tˣ(45r-v), C(12v), A(19r), B(9r), 744ˣ(72v) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Hefring: hefringr Tˣ, ‘Hefrinn[…]’ B, ‘Hefrinng’ 744ˣ;    alda: ‘a[…]’ B, alda 744ˣ    [2] hvítingr: hvíting C, ‘hu[…]gr’ B, ‘huitungr’ 744ˣ    [3] Hrǫnn: ‘s[…]’ B, ‘saínn’ 744ˣ;    Rán Kolga: so A, B, ‘rankellda’ R, ‘ran kellda’ Tˣ, C    [4] ok: om. Tˣ;    ‑glæva: ‘‑gl[…]’ B, ‘‑gle᷎fa’ 744ˣ    [5] ok: ‘[…]’ B, ok 744ˣ;    solmr: ‘solnir’ Tˣ, ‘solum’ A    [6] Dúfa: Dúfa ok C    [7] ok: om. Tˣ;    Bára: ‘[…]a’ B, ‘ba …’ 744ˣ    [8] Blóðug‑: ‘[…]ðug‑’ B, ‘blodug‑’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 669, Skj BI, 666, Skald I, 331; SnE 1848-87, I, 575, II, 479, 562, 622, SnE 1931, 205, SnE 1998, I, 124.

Notes: [All]: Most of the sea-heiti listed in this stanza are the names of the daughters of Ægir and Rán, each daughter being the personification of a wave. According to Skm (SnE 1998, I, 95), Ægir and Rán had nine daughters whose names are also known from Þul Waves (see also ESk Frag 17 and Notes there, as well as Gestumbl Heiðr 21^VIII (Heiðr 68), Gestumbl Heiðr 24^VIII (Heiðr 71)): Himinglæva ‘heaven-bright one’, Dúfa ‘dip’, Blóðughadda ‘bloody-haired one’, Hefring ‘lifting one’, Uðr ‘wave’, Hrǫnn ‘wave’, Bylgja ‘billow’, Drǫfn ‘turbid one’ and Kólga ‘cold one’. However, in the section on kennings (Skm, SnE 1998, I, 36), we find a slightly different list of names, in which Bára ‘bore, tidal wave’ appears instead of Drǫfn; hence Bára is treated as a pers. n. along with other names for waves presented here. — [2] hvítingr (m.) ‘white one’: The word does not occur elsewhere as a heiti for ‘sea’, but it could refer to the white foam forming at the crests of breakers. The C variant hvíting (f. rather than m.) is most likely caused by analogy with the surrounding names of waves, which are f. Hvítingr is also found in Þul Sverða 7/5 and Þul Sækonunga 3/3. — [3] Hrǫnn: This name for ‘wave’ is also attested as a river-heiti (Þul Á 4/1). — [3] Rán: Lit. ‘plundering’. The wife of Ægir, also mentioned in Þul Ásynja 2/7 and Þul Kvenna II 3/6. — [3] Kolga ‘Kólga’: So A and B; the other mss have kelda ‘spring’ (Rán and kelda are spelled as one word in R: ‘rankellda’). The word kelda is, however, listed in st. 3/7, and Kólga ‘cold one’, the name of Ægir’s daughter, is a more appropriate heiti for ‘sea’ in the present stanza. — [4] Himinglæva: Lit. ‘heaven-bright one’, which perhaps refers to reflections of the sky on the surface of the sea. — [5] Drǫfn: The foaming sea is called drǫfn ‘turbid one’ (cf. Goth. drobjan, OE drœfen ‘stir up’). Drǫfn is also the name of a Norwegian river (ModNorw. Drammenselva, Þul Á 4/7). — [5] solmr (m.) ‘sweller’: A hap. leg. The m. gender indicates that, like hvítingr (l. 2), the word is a name for the sea rather than for ‘wave’ (cf. ODan. svolm ‘swelling’; AEW: solmr). — [8] Blóðughadda: This heiti, ‘bloody-haired one’, is a curious name for a wave, but it could perhaps refer to the colour of the sea at sunset (see Note to ESk Frag 17/5).

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. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
6. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
7. Internal references
8. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 68 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 21)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 433.
9. Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 71 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 24)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 437.
10. (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 23 April 2024)
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga 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. 681.
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja 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. 765.
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 7’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 802.
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Á 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. 845.
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Kvenna heiti ókend 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. 963.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Einarr Skúlason, Fragments 17’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 167.
17. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for waves’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 996. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2988> (accessed 23 April 2024)