Þul Skipa 8^III

Rá, rakki, rif,         rengr ok hǫmlur,
vindáss, vengi,         vǫndr, langnefjur,
vǫlt, beitiáss,         varta, brandar,
bitar, bóglína,         bulkastokkar.

Rá, rakki, rif, rengr ok hǫmlur, vindáss, vengi, vǫndr, langnefjur, vǫlt, beitiáss, varta, brandar, bitar, bóglína, bulkastokkar.

Yard, parrel, reef, ribs and oar-loops, windlass, cabin, wand, rowlock-pins, roller, tacking-boom, prow-carving, bows, transoms, bowline, bulk-heads.

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

Readings: [1] Rá: so A, B, Ró R, Tˣ, C    [2] ok: om. Tˣ    [3] vengi: ‘vængi’ C, A, ‘v[…]gi’ B, ‘venngí’ 744ˣ    [5] vǫlt: vǫllr C, B    [6] varta: ‘vortr’ C    [7] ‑lína: ‑lima C    [8] ‑stokkar: ‘‑stoca’ Tˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 674, Skj BI, 668, Skald I, 333; SnE 1848-87, I, 584, II, 482, 565, 625, SnE 1931, 209, SnE 1998, I, 129.  

Notes: [1] rá (f.) ‘yard’: The reading of A and B; the other mss have ró ‘clinch-plate’. Because ró (f. pl. rœr) is listed in st. 10/3, the A, B variant rá has been adopted here. Rá was the horizontal beam (the sail-yard) which supported the sail (Falk 1912, 61-2; Jesch 2001a, 162). — [1] rakki (m.) ‘parrel’: A mast-ring, originally a loop of rope, later a ring around the mast which allowed the sail-yard to move around the mast (Falk 1912, 61; Jesch 2001a, 162 n. 72). Cf. HHund I 49/3, where rakki is used in a kenning for ‘ship’. — [1] rif (n.) ‘reef’: The horizontal sections of the sail, which could be furled to shorten the sail (Falk 1912, 68-9; Jesch 2001a, 163). For the technical nautical term reef, see OED: reef n.¹. — [2] rengr (f. pl.) ‘ribs’: The transverse curved frames that provided support inside the hull and held the bottom boards together (Falk 1912, 46-7; Jesch 2001a, 150-1). See also Note to Hharð Lv 11/ 7, 8^II and Kali Lv 1/3^II. Rǫng (sg.) is derived from *wrangō ‘sth. curved’. — [2] hǫmlur (f. pl.) ‘oar-loops’: Hamla (sg.) could also denote ‘rowing position’. See Jesch (2001a, 156-7) and Note to Arn Hryn 9/5^II. — [3] vindáss (m.) ‘windlass’: Lit. ‘winding-pole’, which was used to hoist the sail (cf. vinda segl ‘hoist sail’, CVC: vinda). ModEngl. windlass is a loanword from Old Norse (Falk 1912, 81). This term is not otherwise attested in verse. — [3] vengi (n.) ‘cabin’: The word is found only in this þula and in Hharð Gamv 2/4^II hjǫrtr vengis ‘the stag of the cabin [SHIP]’ (see Note there). — [4] vǫndr (m.) ‘wand’: Lit. ‘stick, thin rod’. A poetic term for ‘mast’ (Falk 1912, 56; Jesch 2001a, 160; Note to Anon (Mberf) 6/5, 8^II). — [4] langnefjur (f. pl.) ‘rowlock-pins’: Lit. ‘long-nosed ones’. The word occurs only in the present þula, and langnefjur may have had the same function as þollr ‘thole-pin, rowlock’, that is, pieces of wood inserted into the upper plank of the railing between which the oars rested (Falk 1912, 71; CVC: langnefjur ‘rowlocks’). — [5] vǫlt (f.) ‘roller’: A hap. leg. from the strong verb velta ‘topple’, and possibly the same as vindáss ‘windlass’ (l. 3). See Falk (1912, 82). — [5] beitiáss (m.) ‘tacking-boom’: A pole attached to the lower end of the sail and to some part of the hull to keep the sail straight when tacking (Falk 1912, 61; SnE 1998, II, 241). The term does not otherwise occur in skaldic verse. — [6] varta (f.) ‘prow-carving’: According to Falk (1912, 45), this is the poetic term for brandr ‘(ornamented) bow’ (see the next heiti), hence it most likely denotes carved ornaments decorating the side of a ship’s prow. See also SnE 1998, II, 421 and Notes to Arn Hryn 4/6^II and Þsvart Lv l. 7^II as well as Note to Þul Sverða 10/1. — [6] brandar (m. pl.) ‘bows’: Brandr occurs quite often in poetry as a pars pro toto for ‘bow’ or ‘ship’ (Jesch 2001a, 147-8; LP: 3. brandr). According to Falk (1912, 44-5), brandar were the strips of wood running along the side of the prow (and stern). These strips could be carved, ornamented or gilded. — [7] bitar (m. pl.) ‘transoms’: Cross-beams inserted inside the frame to support the decking. These beams could also be used as rowing-benches (Jesch 2001a, 151; see also Falk 1912, 47-8). — [7] bóglína (f.) ‘bowline’: A rope running from the middle or the forward edge of the sail to the bow (bógr) holding the edge of the sail steady (Falk 1912, 65-6; SnE 1998, II, 248). In Old Norse, this nautical term is found only here. — [8] bulkastokkar (m. pl.) ‘bulk-heads’: The cpd is formed from bulki ‘cargo’ and stokkr ‘stock’. The term occurs only in this þula and denotes a beam in the middle of the ship that provides support for the cargo (Falk 1912, 30; the same as ModIcel. bunkastokkur).

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. 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.
5. CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
6. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
7. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
8. OED = Murray, J. A. H. et al., eds. 1884-1928. The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon. 2nd edn 1989. Simpson, J. A. and E. S. C. Weiner, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
10. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
11. Internal references
12. Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sverða heiti 10’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 808.
13. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Magnúss saga berfœtts 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 833-4.
14. Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘ Þorbjǫrn svarti, Lausavísa’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 624-5. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1479> (accessed 26 April 2024)
15. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 4’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 187-9.
16. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Arnórr jarlaskáld Þórðarson, Hrynhenda, Magnússdrápa 9’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 193-4.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Lausavísur 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 52-3.
18. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 36-7.
19. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Kali Sæbjarnarson, Lausavísa 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 393-4.