þulr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *þuliz, whence also Old English þyle (“orator, reciter”). Related to þylja (“to recite, to chant”), þula (“a rote; an alliterative poem”).

Noun

þulr m (genitive þular, plural þulir)

1. a sage, a reciter of poetry and wisdom, a wise man
   • 800s, DR 248, Snoldelev Stone, at the Skaldic Database

     ᚴᚢᚾᚢᚼᛚᛏᛋᛏᚼᛁᚾᛋᚢᚾᛅᛦ ' ᚱᚢᚺᛅᛚᛏᛋ ' ᚦᚢᛚᛅᛦ ' ᚨᛋᛅᛚᚺᛅᚢᚴᚢᛘ

     kun'uAlts| |stAin ' sunaʀ ' ruHalts ' þulaʀ ' o salHauku(m)

     Gunnvaldr's stone, Hróaldr's son, reciter of Salhaugar.

   • Hávamál, verse 111

     Mál er at þylja / þular stóli á […]

     A speech is to be recited / upon the chair of the sage. […]

   • Hávamál, verse 135

     […] at hárum þul / hlæ þú aldregi,
     oft er gótt, / þat er gamlir kveða; […]

     […] at a grey-haired sage / never laugh,
     often is good, / that which the old sing; […]

2. a poet

Declension

Declension of þulr (strong i-stem, ar-genitive)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	þulr	þulrinn	þulir	þulirnir
accusative	þul	þulinn	þuli	þulina
dative	þul	þulinum	þulum	þulunum
genitive	þular	þularins	þula	þulanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: þulur

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “þulr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press