Þul Skipa 6^III

Sǫx, stœðingar,         sviptingr ok skaut,
spíkr, siglutré,         saumr, lokstolpar,
laukr, siglutoppr,         lína, eyru,
flaug, flaugarskegg         ok farnagli.

Sǫx, stœðingar, sviptingr ok skaut, spíkr, siglutré, saumr, lokstolpar, laukr, siglutoppr, lína, eyru, flaug, flaugarskegg ok farnagli.

Bow-rails, braces, reef-point and sail’s corner, spike, mast-tree, nail, forecastle-supports, mast, mast-top, anchor-line, ears, flag, flag-beard and vessel-nail.

Mss: R(44r), Tˣ(46r), C(13r), A(19v), B(9r), 744ˣ(77r) (SnE)

Readings: [1] Sǫx: Sǫx ok A, B;    stœðingar: so C, ‘stǫþing[…]’ R, ‘stodingar’ Tˣ, stæðingr A, B    [2] sviptingr: so all others, ‘[…]ipting’ R;    ok: om. Tˣ    [4] lokstolpar: so B, ‘lec stopar’ R, Tˣ, ‘legg stolpar’ C, ‘løkstólpar’ A    [5] siglutoppr: ‘topr’ Tˣ, ‘sígluto[…]’ B, ‘síglutóppr’ 744ˣ    [6] eyru: ‘eyr[…]’ C, om. B    [8] ok: om. Tˣ;    ‑nagli: ‘‑nagl[…]’ B, ‘‑nagle’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 673, Skj BI, 668, Skald I, 333; SnE 1848-87, I, 583, II, 482, 565, 624, SnE 1931, 208, SnE 1998, I, 128-9.      

Notes: [1] sǫx (n. pl.) ‘bow-rails’: Lit. ‘scissors’. The boards curving up towards the prow, as well as the space behind the prow (Falk 1912, 54, 84). — [1] stœðingar (m. pl.) ‘braces’: Lit. ‘supports’. The name seems to refer to ropes which help support the mast on the windward side of the ship (Falk 1912, 60; SnE 1998, II, 405). Cf. ON aktaumar ‘braces’ (st. 10/3 below). The word is not otherwise found in poetry. — [2] sviptingr (m.) ‘reef-point’: From the weak verb svipta ‘move quickly’ (see AEW: sviptingr for cognates). In Old Norse legal texts, this word could refer to a reef-point, i.e. a horizontal row of ropes across a sail which marks off the section to be taken in, and it could also denote similar bands on a ship’s tent that were used to join the parts of the tent (see NGL V, 622 and Falk 1912, 10, 12). The word does not otherwise occur in skaldic verse. — [2] skaut (n.) ‘sail’s corner’: The lower corners of a sail, also used as a pars pro toto for ‘sail’ (Falk 1912, 64; Jesch 2001a, 163-4). — [3] spíkr (m.) ‘spike’: A nail in the planking (see saumfǫr ‘rivet-row’, st. 5/3 and Falk 1912, 50). — [3] siglutré (n.) ‘mast-tree’: Lit. ‘sail-tree’, i.e. ‘mast’ (Falk 1912, 55). — [4] saumr (m.) ‘nail’: See saumfǫr ‘rivet-row’ (st. 5/3). — [4] lokstolpar (m. pl.) ‘forecastle-supports’: So B (ms. A ‘løkstólpar’) and adopted in Falk (1912, 48-9). The form of this word is uncertain. If lokstolpar is correct, the word could refer to supports for the raised deck at the prow. The first element of the cpd is lok n. ‘cover, lid’, ‘locker or bench in the stem of a boat’ (cf. ModIcel. stafnlok ‘triangular boards in each end of a rowing boat’, ‘lockers’ pl.); the second element is the pl. form of stolpi ‘support’. Finnur Jónsson (Skj B; LP: leggstolpar; so also Skald) adopts the C variant, leggstolpar, in which the first element is leggr ‘leg, bone’, also ‘stem, trunk, stock of an anchor’ (lit. ‘stem-supports’?). Mss R and Tˣ have the variant  (normalised) lekstopar, perhaps something with which to stop leaks (so, tentatively, SnE 1998, II, 344). None of these variants occurs elsewhere. — [5] laukr ‘mast’: Lit. ‘leek’, and a poetic word for ‘mast’ (LP: 2. laukr; Falk 1912, 56; Jesch 2001a, 160). — [6] eyru (n. pl.) ‘ears’: According to Falk (1912, 80), this term denotes holes or pieces of wood with holes in them for ropes, in particular an upper part of a ship’s rib (see SnE 1998, II, 267; cf. ModIcel. stafnlokseyra, the arm of the wooden support, where it is nailed to the railing of the ship). As a nautical term, the word occurs only in the present þula. — [7] flaug, flaugarskegg (f., n.) ‘flag, flag-beard’: Flaug was a flag or pennant attached to the top of the mast, and flaugarskegg ‘flag-beard’ probably denotes the lower corners of this flag (Falk 1912, 59). The latter word is not attested elsewhere. — [8] farnagli (m.) ‘vessel-nail’: This could refer to a plug in the bottom of a ship that could be pulled out when a ship was beached so as to allow the bilge water to escape (the same as ModIcel. negla ‘plug’; cf. Falk 1912, 7). Alternatively, it could denote ‘a long nail to pass through a wide bracket into the piece it supported in a ship’ (so SnE 1998, II, 270). The term farnagli is not known from other sources.

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. 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. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. NGL = Keyser, R. et al., eds. 1846-95. Norges gamle love indtil 1387. 5 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Gröndahl.
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.