Þul Bjarnar 1III/5 — bassi ‘bassi’
Bjǫrn, bersi, bolmr, bera, elgviðnir,
blájaxl, ísolfr ok breiðvegi,
bestingr, bassi, balti, hlébarðr,
úfr, frekr, vilnir, jórekr, mǫsmi,
fetviðnir, húnn, fress, vetrliði,
íugtanni, jalfuðr, ifjungr, vilskarpr.
Bjǫrn, bersi, bolmr, bera, elgviðnir, blájaxl, ísolfr ok breiðvegi, bestingr, bassi, balti, hlébarðr, úfr, frekr, vilnir, jórekr, mǫsmi, fetviðnir, húnn, fress, vetrliði, íugtanni, jalfuðr, ifjungr, vilskarpr.
Bear, little bear, mighty one, she-bear, elk-forest-dweller, dark molar, ice-wolf and broad-fighter, haltered one, bassi, heavy-stepper, hlébarðr, gruff one, greedy one, vilnir, horse-powerful one, mǫsmi, fetviðnir, bear-cub, snarler, winter-survivor, greedy-toothed one, roarer, hooded one, bowel-sharp one.
readings
[5] bassi: ‘barsi’ C, ‘basi’ A
notes
[5] bassi: Perhaps ‘little bear’. Other than in the present þula the heiti occurs as a second element of the poetic cpd valbassi m. ‘slaughter-bear’ (i.e. ‘boar’), a cpd not attested elsewhere (Þul Galtar l. 5). Bassi has parallels in ModSwed. dialects basse ‘boar’, OSwed., ODan. basse ‘wild boar’ (cf. ModNorw. basse ‘big and stout beast, big man, unruly person’), and ON bassi has been explained as a result of a confusion of two different words, namely, a diminutive of a term for ‘bear’ (cf. bersi or bessi ‘little bear’ in l. 1) and a term for ‘boar’, cf. OE bār, bǣr ‘boar’ (Björkman 1912, 275; AEW: bassi).