Þul Viðar 2III/2 — reynir ‘rowan’
Hasl, heggr, hallarr, hagþorn, reynir,
ró, almr ok rót, reyrr, askr, fura,
apaldr, ǫsp, laurus, ulfviðr, lykkja,
eik, einir, píll, elri, palmar.
Hasl, heggr, hallarr, hagþorn, reynir, ró, almr ok rót, reyrr, askr, fura, apaldr, ǫsp, laurus, ulfviðr, lykkja, eik, einir, píll, elri, palmar.
Hazel, bird-cherry tree, elder, hawthorn, rowan, ró, elm and root, reed, ash, fir, apple-tree, aspen, laurus, cranberry bush, lykkja, oak, juniper, willow, alder, palm-trees.
readings
[2] reynir: ‘reýne[…]r’ B, ‘reýnerr’ 744ˣ
notes
[2] reynir (m.) ‘rowan’: The rowan was the one of the few trees, along with the dwarf birch (fjallhrapi, st. 1/6 above), that were found in Iceland, and therefore the word occurs frequently in Icelandic names of places which had rowan-groves at the time of the settlement (see CVC: reynir). Reynir is used in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 40) to explain the origin of the group of man-kennings with masculine terms for trees as base-words. According to that passage, this popular kenning pattern originated from a confusion of reynir ‘tester’ (an agent noun derived from the weak verb reyna ‘test, try’) and reynir ‘rowan’. See also SnE 1998, I, 25, Grett Ævkv II 2/7V and 4/1-3V (Gr 40, 42) and Notes there. The corresponding kennings for ‘woman’ are similarly explained as a result of confusion of selja ‘sallow’ with selja ‘one who hands over sth. to sby’ (see selja ‘sallow’, st. 1/2 above and Þul Kvenna II 2/1).