Þorm Lv 24I/6 — morðvenjanda ‘the killing-accustomed one’
Emka rjóðr, en rauðum
ræðr grǫnn Skǫgul manni
hauka setrs in hvíta;
hyggr fár of mik sáran.
Hitt veldr mér, at meldrar
morðvenjanda Fenju
djúp ok danskra vápna
Dags hríðar spor svíða.
Emka rjóðr, en grǫnn Skǫgul in hvíta setrs hauka ræðr rauðum manni; fár hyggr of mik sáran. Hitt veldr mér, at djúp spor hríðar Dags ok danskra vápna svíða morðvenjanda meldrar Fenju.
I am not ruddy, but the slender, white Skǫgul <valkyrie> of the seat of hawks [ARM > WOMAN] gives orders to a red [blood-stained] man; few think about me, wounded. This is the cause to me [of my pallor], that the deep tracks of the blizzard of Dagr <legendary king> and of Danish weapons [BATTLE > WOUNDS] cause pain to the killing-accustomed one of the flour of Fenja <giantess> [GOLD > GENEROUS MAN = Þormóðr].
readings
[6] morðvenjanda: morðvenjandi Holm2, 972ˣ, J2ˣ, Holm4, 61, 325VII, Flat, Tóm, Kˣ, 142ˣ, 566aˣ, ‘modrveniande’ 321ˣ, ‘morðvenandi’ 73aˣ, 325V, margs deyjanda Bb, móteggjaðra DG8
notes
[5, 6] mér; morðvenjanda ‘to me; the killing-accustomed one’: Morðvenjandi is lit. ‘one who becomes accustomed to killing’, here in the sense of a man who is hard on gold because liberal with it. Both words are dat. (-venjanda by emendation), and both refer to Þormóðr. Skj B reverses their syntactic functions, construing the former with svíða ‘cause pain’ and the latter with veldr ‘is the cause’: see also Finnur Jónsson (1924a, 323-4), and cf. NN §714. If venjandi is retained, it must be regarded as vocative (though that produces no very good sense), and it is probably for that reason that Snorri in Hkr describes Þormóðr here as replying to someone other than the woman binding wounds, who is mentioned also in Hkr (see Finnur Jónsson 1932-3).
kennings
- morðvenjanda meldrar Fenju. — the killing-accustomed one of the flour of Fenja <giantess>. [GENEROUS MAN = Þormóðr]
grammar
case: dat.