Kálf Kátr 38VII/1 — plátu ‘of harness’
Æðin hljóp í plátu prýði;
pína bauð hann drotning sína;
brjóstin skáru blóta lystir
baugs spennandar lífs af henni.
Tiggi liet þá tróðu höggva
tálgjarnastur Iðja mála;
sálin giet eg, að hennar hvíli
himna Krists í dýrðarvistum.
Æðin hljóp í prýði plátu; hann bauð drotning sína pína; blóta lystir spennandar baugs skáru brjóstin af henni lífs. Tálgjarnastur tiggi liet þá tróðu mála Iðja höggva; eg giet, að sálin hennar hvíli í dýrðarvistum Krists himna.
Anger overtook the adorner of harness [WARRIOR]; he requested that his queen be tortured; the sacrifice-keen squanderers of the ring [GENEROUS MEN] cut the breasts off her while she was alive. The very deceit-inclined king then had the stick of the speech of Iði <giant> [GOLD > WOMAN] slain; I expect that her soul rests in the glorious abodes of Christ’s heavens.
readings
[1] plátu: ‘platons’ all
notes
[1] plátu (f. gen. sg.) ‘harness, plate armour’: Finnur Jónsson (Skj B) and Kock (Skald) emend all mss’ ‘platons’ to plátu; Sperber takes the ms. form as a proper noun and regards Plátons prýðir (which he translates as ‘worshipper of Platon’, i.e. the Greek philosopher Plato, considered as a representative of heathen learning) as a kenning for ‘heathen’. Pláta occurs elsewhere in poetry only in rímur, as a determinant in man (or warrior)-kennings (e.g. plátu runn ‘bush of armour’ in Friðþjófsrímur II, 13/1(Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, I, 420), a poem Finnur (LH, III, 52) considered likely to be composed by Vitulus vates). Plata f. is attested in prose (ONP word-list: plata; Fritzner: plata 2; Fritzner IV: pláta) and the form ‘Platonis’ occurs in the prose saga of S. Catherine (Unger 1877, 404; Wolf 2003, 126) to refer to Plato the philosopher.
kennings
- prýði plátu; — the adorner of harness; [WARRIOR]