Kálf Kátr 38VII/6 — mála ‘of the speech’
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.
notes
[5-6] tróðu mála Iðja ‘the stick of the speech of Iði <giant> [GOLD > WOMAN]’: The pers. n. Iði (Iðja gen. sg.) for mss’ ‘idju’ was first suggested by Kahle following Jón Þorkelsson. According to the Skm section of SnE (1998, I, 3), Iði was the name of a very rich giant who, along with his two brothers, measured out their inheritance in mouthfuls of gold. From that myth, according to Snorri, poets could construct kennings for gold that referred to it as ‘speech or words or talk’ of these giants. A similar kenning appears in st. 39/1-2 ýtir raddar Iðja (also by emendation, where the mss have the same form iðju, possibly understood by the scribes as from iðja f. ‘activity, work’). The poet appears to refer once more to the myth underlying these relatively uncommon kennings (cf. Meissner, 227) in 40/5-6 ýtar róms jötna ‘launchers of the speech of giants’ and again in 50/5-6 eigendur jötna róms ‘owners of the speech of giants’. The gold-kenning Iðja rödd ‘voice of Iði <giant>’ also appears in Völsungs rímur III, 20/4 (Finnur Jónsson 1905-22, I, 329).
kennings
- mála Iðja — of the speech of Iði <giant> [GOLD]
- tróðu mála Iðja — the stick of the speech of Iði <giant> [WOMAN]
grammar
case: gen.
number: pl.