Note to Anon Bjark 5III
[8] glysmôlum Iðja ‘the shining speeches of Iði <giant> [GOLD]’: This gold-kenning belongs to the type that depends on a mytheme related in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 3). It concerns a giant named Ǫlvaldi who owned a great deal of gold. When he died, his riches had to be distributed equally between his three sons, Þjazi, Iði and Gangr. They ensured a fair distribution of their inheritance by each taking exactly equal numbers of mouthfuls of gold, hence gold can be called the mouthful, voice or speech of giants or of one of these three giants (Meissner 227-8). This kenning type is first attested in an early poem, Bragi Frag 6/2-3; another example is at st. 6/3 below.
References
- Bibliography
- Meissner = Meissner, Rudolf. 1921. Die Kenningar der Skalden: Ein Beitrag zur skaldischen Poetik. Rheinische Beiträge und Hülfsbücher zur germanischen Philologie und Volkskunde 1. Bonn and Leipzig: Schroeder. Rpt. 1984. Hildesheim etc.: Olms.
- SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 24 April 2024)
- Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.) 2017, ‘Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Fragments 6’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 62.