[7] Gestilja: This name is otherwise attested only once, in EGils Selv 5/6IV, where it means ‘monster’ and may be a common noun (LP: Gestilja). This troll-woman could be the female counterpart of the sea-king Gestill (from gestr m. ‘guest’; Þul Sea-kings l. 2 and Þul Sækonunga 1/6) (so Motz 1981, 505). Alternatively, Finnur Jónsson (1934-5, 306) suggests that -ilja may be a derivative from il f. ‘sole of the foot’, but the meaning of the word remains obscure.
References
- Bibliography
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1934-5. ‘Þulur: Søkonge- og jættenavneremserne’. APS 9, 289-308.
- Motz, Lotte. 1981. ‘Giantesses and Their Names’. FS 15, 495-511.
- Internal references
- Elena Gurevich 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Heiti for sea-kings’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 987. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1045> (accessed 26 April 2024)
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Sækonunga heiti 1’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 678.
- Not published: do not cite (EGils Selv 5IV)