Þul Á 6III/4 — Kerlaugar ‘Kerlaugar’
Nyt, Hrǫnn ok nauð, Nǫt, Slíðr ok Hríð,
Kǫrmt, Leiptr ok Ǫrmt, Kerlaugar tvær,
Gǫmul, Sylgr ok yn ok Geirvimul,
Ylgr, Vǫð ok flóð; Jorðán es á lesti.
Nyt, Hrǫnn ok nauð, Nǫt, Slíðr ok Hríð, Kǫrmt, Leiptr ok Ǫrmt, tvær Kerlaugar, Gǫmul, Sylgr ok yn ok Geirvimul, Ylgr, Vǫð ok flóð; Jorðán es á lesti.
Nyt, Hrǫnn and need, Nǫt, Slíðr and Hríð, Kǫrmt, Leiptr and Ǫrmt, two Kerlaugar, Gǫmul, Sylgr and yn and Geirvimul, Ylgr, Vǫð and flood; Jordan is the last.
readings
[4] Kerlaugar: ‘[…]ar’ B, ‘kerlaugar’ 744ˣ
notes
[3-4] Kǫrmt … ok Ǫrmt, tvær Kerlaugar ‘Kǫrmt … and Ǫrmt, two Kerlaugar’: Cf. Grí 29/1-2 (NK 63) Kǫrmt oc Ǫrmt | oc Kerlaugar tvær (also cited in Gylf, SnE 2005, 17). According to Grí 29/3-6, these are the rivers Þórr crosses on his way to the legal assembly at the ash Yggdrasill. Kǫrmt is also an island in Rogaland, Norway (Karmøy; see Þul Eyja 3/2), but it is uncertain whether there is any connection between that island and the river-heiti. According to Olsen (1925), the pair Kǫrmt ok Ǫrmt is most likely to be derived from karmr and armr, which are terms for ‘pen in a sheep-fold’, denoting two parallel parts of a sheep-fold (the same as fjárhúskró or kró í fjárhúsi ‘corner in a cowshed/sheep cote’). He suggests that, as names for rivers, they have their origin in the myth about Þórr’s encounter with the daughters of the giant Geirrøðr in a goat-shed (see SnE 1998, I, 25). There have also been other attempts to explain the name Ǫrmt. According to Cleasby and Vigfusson (CVC 780), this could be the river Armet in Scotland, while Sijmons and Gering (S-G I, 200) argue that the possible sense of the name is in arme sich teilend, ein delta bildend ‘dividing itself into armlets, forming a delta’ (from armr ‘arm’). The name Kerlaug (here f. nom. pl. Kerlaugar) translates as ‘tub-washing’.