Þul Kvenna I 1III/6 — ristill ‘gentlewoman’
Snót, brúðr, svanni, svarri, sprakki,
fljóð, sprund, kona, feima, ekkja,
rýgr, víf ok drós, ristill, sæta,
man, svarkr ok hæll, mær ok kerling.
Snót, brúðr, svanni, svarri, sprakki, fljóð, sprund, kona, feima, ekkja, rýgr, víf ok drós, ristill, sæta, man, svarkr ok hæll, mær ok kerling.
Snót, bride, lady, haughty woman, lively one, matron, dame, woman, lass, widow, mighty woman, wife and girl, gentlewoman, grass-widow, maid, proud woman and widow, maiden and old woman.
readings
[6] ristill: ‘ri[…]ll’ B, ristill 744ˣ
notes
[6] ristill (m.) ‘gentlewoman’: Like some other heiti for ‘woman’ in this list (svanni, svarri, sprakki and svarkr) the word is a m. noun. In Skm (SnE 1998, I, 107), ristill is a term for a woman ‘of independent character’ (skǫruglyndr). Other than in this stanza and in Rþ 25/6 the word occurs in Old Norse poetry only twice and only in late poems, the earliest from C14th (see Anon Mey 27/3VII; see also Kommentar III, 590). The heiti is used quite frequently in the rímur (Finnur Jónsson 1926-8: ristill). The origin of ristill is obscure and several explanations have been suggested: from rist f. ‘instep of the foot’ (AEW: ristill 2); from the strong verb rísta ‘carve’, and thus a female rune carver (so Sturtevant 1952, 1151); from the strong verb rísa ‘rise’ (ÍO: ristill 3).