Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

ut continued his journey to Asgard, to appear at some of the occasional deliberations
which are held at the thingstead there. The passage proves that at least those who have
died from sickness have to appear at the court which is held by Odin in the lower world.
In Sigurdrífumál 12 we read:
Málrúnar skaltu kunna,
ef þú vilt-at magni þér
heiptum gjaldi harm;
þær um vindur,
þær um vefur,
þær um setur allar saman
á því þingi,
er þjóðir skulu
í fulla dóma fara.
70.
THE DOOM OF THE DEAD (continued).
SPEECH-RUNES. ORÐS TÍRR. NÁMÆLI.
"Speech-runes you must know, if you do not wish the strong one to requite the
harm you have caused with consuming woe (heiptir). 2 All those runes you must wind,
weave, and place together in that Thing where the host of people go into the full
judgments."
In order to make the significance of this passage clear, it is necessary to explain
the meaning of speech-runes.
Several kinds of runes are mentioned in Sigurdrífumál, all of a magic and
wonderful kind. Among them are speech-runes (mál-runar). They get their name from
the fact that they are able to restore the power to mæla (speak) to a tongue mute or
silenced in death. Odin employs speech-runes when he carves í rúnum, so that a corpse
from the gallows comes and mælir with him (Hávamál 157). According to Saxo (Book
1), Hadding places a piece of wood carved with runes under the tongue of a dead man.
The latter then recovers consciousness and the power of speech, and sings a terrible song.
This is a reference to speech-runes. In Guðrúnarkviða in fyrsta it is mentioned how
Gudrun, mute and almost lifeless (gerðist að deyja), sat near Sigurd's dead body. One of
the kinswomen present lifts the napkin off from Sigurd's head. By the sight of the
features of the loved one Gudrun awakens again to life, bursts into tears, and is able to
speak. The evil Brynhild then curses the being (vættur) which "gave speech-runes to
Gudrun," (23) that is to say, freed her tongue, until then sealed as in death.
Those who are able to apply these mighty runes are very few. Odin boasts that he
knows them. Sigurdrifa, who also is skilled in them, is a dis, not a daughter of man. The
2 These lines are usually interpretted to mean "Speech-runes you must know, if you want no one to requite
injury with enmity (heiptir)."