Heiti eru handar: hrammr, dýr ok raukn,
greip, mund ok spǫnn, gaupn ok hreifi,
ulfliðr ok fingr, armr, leggr ok bógr,
lámr, hnefi, lófi, loppa, krumma.
Heiti handar eru: hrammr, dýr ok raukn, greip, mund ok spǫnn, gaupn ok hreifi, ulfliðr ok fingr, armr, leggr ok bógr, lámr, hnefi, lófi, loppa, krumma.
The names of the hand are: paw, beast and draught-animal, grip, hand and span, hollow of the hand and wrist, wrist and finger, arm, forearm and shoulder, paw, fist, palm, paw, claw.
[2] dýr ok raukn ‘beast and draught-animal’: Neither of these nouns is otherwise attested as heiti for ‘hand’ or ‘part of a hand’. The pairing of the two terms in this line indicates that dýr n. is used in the sense ‘beast, animal’ here, and is not, as has been suggested, derived from the adj. dýrr ‘precious, worthy, dear’ (AEW: dýr 2) perhaps referring to jewels (dýrgripr), i.e. rings worn on the arm or finger (see also ÍO: dýr 3). The terms ‘beast’ and ‘draught-animal’ may have been added to the list as a kind of rueful joke: the hand (or arm) is a body part that does a lot of hard work, just like an animal (dýr) or a beast of burden (raukn).