Þul Kvenna II 2^III

Reið, selja, strind,         rein, skorð ok fjǫrn,
bjǫrk, veig ok þǫll,         brík, þopta, Gefn,
lág, grund ok hlíð,         Lodda, bróka,
fit, norn,         fold, Þír* ok lind.

Reið, selja, strind, rein, skorð ok fjǫrn, bjǫrk, veig ok þǫll, brík, þopta, Gefn, lág, grund ok hlíð, Lodda, bróka, fit, norn, fold, Þír* ok lind.

Chariot, sallow, earth, strip of land, prop and landscape, birch, strong beverage and fir-tree, plank, thwart, Gefn, log, ground and slope, Ludden, bróka, meadow, norn, field, Þír and linden-tree.

Mss: A(21r) (SnE)

Readings: [8] fold: ‘vø̨lld’ A;    Þír*: ‘þírr’ A

Editions: Skj AI, 688, Skj BI, 678, Skald I, 342; SnE 1848-87, II, 489.

Notes: [All]: Some of the ókend heiti listed in this stanza, namely fjǫrn ‘landscape’ (l. 2), veig ‘strong beverage’ (l. 3), bróka (l. 6) and Þír (l. 8), are not found in poetry as base-words in kennings for ‘woman’. — [1] selja (f.) ‘sallow’: A shrubby type of willow of the Salix family (see Note to Þul Viðar 1/2). — [1-2] strind, rein ‘earth, strip of land’: Neither of these f. terms for ‘earth’ is mentioned in Þul Jarðar. — [2] fjǫrn (f.) ‘landscape’: On this word, see Note to Þul Jarðar 1/1. — [3] veig (f.) ‘strong beverage’: The primary meaning of the word is ‘a kind of strong beverage, drink’ (see CVC: veig) and it normally features in kennings as the determinant rather than base-word. It is likely that the presence of this word in this þula may be explained by the fact that it frequently appears as a second part in f. personal names (e.g. Álm-, Bǫð-, Goll-, Ráð-, Sólveig, where ‑veig perhaps means either ‘strength’ or ‘warlike’; see AEW: veig 5). The only instance in which ‑veig appears in a cpd in skaldic poetry is VGl Lv 7/6^V (Glúm 7) hǫrveig ‘linen-wearer’ (so LP: hǫrveig). Alternatively, veig in this stanza could be the same word as the Norwegian island Veig ‘Vega’ (see Þul Islands l. 6 and cf. the island Lodda ‘Ludden’ in l. 6 below). — [4] Gefn: A name for Freyja (see Note to Þul Ásynja 3/5). — [6] Lodda ‘Ludden’: This may be Ludden, an island in Rogaland, south-western Norway (see Þul Eyja 5/2 and Note to veig in l. 3 above). Alternatively, the word has been explained as a pejorative term for ‘woman’ (cf. New Norw. lodde ‘shortish and shapeless woman’, ModSwed. dialects ludda ‘slattern’; ÍO: lodda 2). The name occurs in a woman-kenning in Bjhít Lv 12/2^V (BjH 16). — [6] bróka (f.): A hap. leg. The heiti has been interpreted in various ways, e.g. as a derivative from brók f. ‘breeches, pants’ (lit. ‘one dressed in breeches’) used in such f. nicknames as langbrók ‘Long-breeches’ and snúinbrók ‘Turned breeches’ (see ÍO: bróka; Finnur Jónsson 1907, 238-9). De Vries (AEW: bróka) tentatively connects the word with New Norw. broka ‘multicoloured animal’ (cf. ModNorw. brokete ‘multicoloured, speckled’), referring to multicoloured clothing worn by women. — [7] fit, norn ‘meadow, norn’: Since this line is hypometrical, Konráð Gíslason (Nj 1875-89, II, 898) suggested emendation to fit, norn ok Hrund (for the last name, see Þul Valkyrja 2/4 and Note). — [8] fold (f.) ‘field’: The ms. reads ‘vø̨ld’, which cannot be construed to make any sense in this context, and initial f- is required by alliteration. — [8] Þír*: The ms. reading is ‘þírr’, but the word is most likely to be identical with the name of the bondwoman Þír in Rþ 10/6, 11/7.

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. 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.
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. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
8. ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
9. Finnur Jónsson. 1907. ‘Tilnavne i den islandske oldlitteratur’. ÅNOH, 161-381.
10. Internal references
11. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Heiti valkyrja 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. 970.
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Jarðar 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. 878.
13. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Eyja 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. 979.
14. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Ásynja 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. 768.
15. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Viðar 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. 881.
16. Alison Finlay (ed.) 2022, ‘Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa 16 (Bjǫrn Hítdœlakappi Arngeirsson, Lausavísur 12)’ 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. 79.
17. Not published: do not cite ()
18. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for islands’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 994. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=2987> (accessed 20 April 2024)
19. Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Jarðar 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. 877. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=3209> (accessed 20 April 2024)
20. John McKinnell (ed.) 2022, ‘Víga-Glúms saga 7 (Víga-Glúmr Eyjólfsson, Lausavísur 7)’ 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. 1385.