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Saga Scholarshipl
Herrn.ann Pillsson: Saga Scholarshipl Magnus Magnusson IT was an inspired idea to dedicate this annual meeting of the Scottish Society for Northern Studies to the enduring memory of Hermann Palsson, and to hold it in the David Hume Tower of Edinburgh University. It was here, nearly 40 years ago, that the first meeting was held to discuss a proposal that 'it would be very useful for to have a purely Scottish branch of the Viking Society for Northern Research'. That was on 14 February 1967. It took nearly two years for this proposal to become reality - well, they were all scholars, after all- 21 months of debate and discussion and good old-fashioned academic argy-bargy. At any rate, a constitution was finally adopted on 14 November 1968; and one of the first committee-members was Hermann Palsson; he remained a staunch committee member of the Scottish Society for Northern Research, and was President of the Society in the 1970/71 season. I am proud to be able claim that I was one of his many friends and admirers. And I feel very proud, and humble, to be his encomiast for the start the day's proceedings. It's a pleasing word, encolniast one who delivers an encolniuln, which from its Greek derivation means a 'festive panegyric'. Let me start with a brief sketch of Hermann's early days. He was born in 1921 in the north of Iceland on the farm of SauOanes a Asum, near Blondu6s on Hunafjorour, the sixth child in a family of twelve. He learned to read and write at the age of three by eavesdropping on Talk given at the Annual Conference of the Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 19 November 2005. -
Three Icelandic Outlaw Sagas
THREE ICELANDIC OUTLAW SAGAS THREE ICELANDIC OUTLAW SAGAS THE SAGA OF GISLI THE SAGA OF GRETTIR THE SAGA OF HORD VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON 2004 Selection, introduction and other critical apparatus © J. M. Dent 2001 Translation of The Saga of Grettir and The Saga of Hord © J. M. Dent 2001 Translation of The Saga of Gisli © J. M. Dent 1963 This edition first published by Everyman Paperbacks in 2001 Reissued by Viking Society for Northern Research in 2004 Reprinted with minor corrections in 2014 ISBN 978 0 903521 66 6 The maps are based on those in various volumes of Íslensk fornrit. The cover illustration is of Grettir Ásmundarson from AM 426 fol., a late seventeenth-century Icelandic manuscript in Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, Reykjavík Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter CONTENTS Preface ............................................................................................ vii Chronology .................................................................................... viii Introduction ..................................................................................... xi Note on the Text .......................................................................... xxvi THE SAGA OF GISLI ..................................................................... 1 THE SAGA OF GRETTIR ............................................................. 69 THE SAGA OF HORD ................................................................ 265 Text Summaries ........................................................................... -
History Or Fiction? Truth-Claims and Defensive Narrators in Icelandic Romance-Sagas
History or fiction? Truth-claims and defensive narrators in Icelandic romance-sagas RALPH O’CONNOR University of Aberdeen Straining the bounds of credibility was an activity in which many mediaeval Icelandic saga-authors indulged. In §25 of Göngu-Hrólfs saga, the hero Hrólfr Sturlaugsson wakes up from an enchanted sleep in the back of beyond to find both his feet missing. Somehow he manages to scramble up onto his horse and find his way back to civilisation – in fact, to the very castle where his feet have been secretly preserved by his bride-to-be. Also staying in that castle is a dwarf who happens to be the best healer in the North.1 Hann mælti: ‘… skaltu nú leggjast niðr við eldinn ok baka stúfana.’ Hrólfr gerði svâ; smurði hann þá smyrslunum í sárin, ok setti við fætrna, ok batt við spelkur, ok lèt Hrólf svâ liggja þrjár nætr. Leysti þá af umbönd, ok bað Hrólf upp standa ok reyna sik. Hrólfr gerði svâ; voru honum fætrnir þá svâ hægir ok mjúkir, sem hann hefði á þeim aldri sár verit. ‘He said, … “Now you must lie down by the fire and warm the stumps”. ‘Hrólfr did so. Then he [the dwarf] applied the ointment to the wounds, placed the feet against them, bound them with splints and made Hrólfr lie like that for three nights. Then he removed the bandages and told Hrólfr to stand up and test his strength. Hrólfr did so; his feet were then as efficient and nimble as if they had never been damaged.’2 This is rather hard to believe – but our scepticism has been anticipated by the saga-author. -
The Medieval Self: Representations and Conceptualizations of the Self in the Textual and Material Culture of Western Scandinavia, C
www.ssoar.info Approaches to the Medieval Self: Representations and Conceptualizations of the Self in the Textual and Material Culture of Western Scandinavia, c. 800-1500 Eriksen, Stefka G. (Ed.); Langsholt Holmqvist, Karen (Ed.); Bandlien, Bjørn (Ed.) Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Sammelwerk / collection Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Eriksen, S. G., Langsholt Holmqvist, K., & Bandlien, B. (Eds.). (2020). Approaches to the Medieval Self: Representations and Conceptualizations of the Self in the Textual and Material Culture of Western Scandinavia, c. 800-1500. Berlin: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110655582 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de Diese Version ist zitierbar unter / This version is citable under: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-70583-8 Approaches to the Medieval Self Approaches to the Medieval Self Representations and Conceptualizations of the Self in the Textual and Material Culture of Western Scandinavia, c. 800–1500 Edited by Stefka G. Eriksen, Karen Langsholt Holmqvist, and Bjørn Bandlien ISBN 978-3-11-065555-1 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-065558-2 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-066476-8 https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110655582 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. -
Basic Color Terms in Old Norse- Icelandic: a Quantitative Study
Kirsten Wolf Basic Color Terms in Old Norse- Icelandic: A Quantitative Study 1 Introduction In 1969, Brent Berlin and Paul Kay published their analysis of color terms in close to one hundred of the world’s languages, arguing that there was a universal inventory of eleven basic color terms, located in the color space where English speakers place the most typical exam- ples of black, white, red, orange, yellow, brown, green, blue, purple, pink, and grey. Comparing the vocabularies of languages possessing fewer than these eleven color terms, they maintained that basic color terms do not appear haphazardly in the diachronic development of a language, but that a language adds basic color terms in a particular order, which is interpreted as an evolutionary sequence: Stage I: black, white Stage II: black, white, red Stage IIIa: black, white, red, green Stage IIIb: black white, red, yellow Stage IV: black, white, red, yellow, green Stage V: black, white, red, yellow, green, blue Stage VI: black, white, red, yellow, green, blue, brown Stage VII: black, white, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, grey. Since the publication of Berlin and Kay’s study, there has been some elaboration and criticism of their conclusions, and in response to these, the two linguist-anthropologists have modifi ed them. In 1975, Orð og tunga 15 (2013), 141–161. © Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Reykjavík. ttunga_15.indbunga_15.indb 141141 116.4.20136.4.2013 111:58:501:58:50 142 Orð og tunga Brent Berlin and Elois Ann Berlin introduced a light-warm versus dark-cool stage instead of the earlier categorization based on bright- ness contrast. -
On the Receiving End the Role of Scholarship, Memory, and Genre in Constructing Ljósvetninga Saga
On the Receiving End The Role of Scholarship, Memory, and Genre in Constructing Ljósvetninga saga Yoav Tirosh Dissertation towards the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Iceland School of Humanities Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies October 2019 Íslensku- og menningardeild Háskóla Íslands hefur metið ritgerð þessa hæfa til varnar við doktorspróf í íslenskum bókmenntum Reykjavík, 21. ágúst 2019 Torfi Tulinius deildarforseti The Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Iceland has declared this dissertation eligible for a defence leading to a Ph.D. degree in Icelandic Literature Doctoral Committee: Ármann Jakobsson, supervisor Pernille Hermann Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir On the Receiving End © Yoav Tirosh Reykjavik 2019 Dissertation for a doctoral degree at the University of Iceland. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author. ISBN 978-9935-9491-2-7 Printing: Háskólaprent Contents Abstract v Útdráttur vii Acknowledgements ix Prologue: Lentils and Lenses—Intent, Audience, and Genre 1 1. Introduction 5 1.1 Ljósvetninga saga’s Plot in the A-redaction and C-redaction 6 1.2 How to Approach Ljósvetninga saga 8 1.2.1 How to Approach This Thesis 9 1.2.2 Material Philology 13 1.2.3 Authorship and Intentionality 16 1.3 The Manuscripts 20 1.3.1 AM 561 4to 21 1.3.2 AM 162 C fol. 26 2. The Part About the Critics 51 2.1 The Debate on Ljósvetninga saga’s Origins in Nineteenth- and Twentieth- Century Scholarship 52 2.1.1 Early Discussion of Ljósvetninga saga: A Compilation of Loosely Connected Episodes 52 2.1.2 Þáttr theory 54 2.1.3 Freeprose and Ljósvetninga saga as a “Unique” Example of Oral Variance: The Primacy of the C-redaction 57 2.1.4 Bookprose and Ljósvetninga saga as a Misrepresented and Authored Text: The Primacy of the A-redaction 62 2.1.5 The Oral vs. -
On the Authorship of Hrafnkels Saga
KIRSTEN WOLF On the Authorship of Hrafnkels saga i A number of literary works have in the course of time been attributed to the Icelandic bishop Brandr Jónsson (d. 1264), though it may well be that his fame (“Hann ... var ágætr höfðingi, klerkr góðr, vitr ok vinsæll, rikr ok góðgjarn. Ok í þann tíma hafði hann mesta mannheill þeira manna, er þá váru á íslandi” [Svínfellinga saga-, Sturlunga saga 2:87]) as well as our fairly limited knowledge about his life and activities (see Tryggvi Þórhallsson 1923) have led scholars to credit him with more works than he actually composed. Brandr Jónsson is commonly held to be the author of Gyðinga saga (GS);1 this assumption is based on the epilogue of GS, which says that it was originally translated into Latin by Jerome and thence into Norse by the priest Brandr Jónsson, later bishop of Hólar, at the request of King Magnús Hákonarson.2 As there are no other documents extant or no other evidence to prove that anyone else wrote GS, one is obliged to place some credence in the testimonial of the epilogue. Moreover, there appears to be no reason to dismiss the epilogue, appearing as it does in a codex (AM 226 fol.) written within a century of Brandr Jónsson’s death in a community where he was likely to be remembered. Since it is known that both Brandr Jónsson and King Magnus spent the winter 1262-3 in Trondheim, it has been argued that the saga was written by Brandr Jónsson or under his supervision during this year. -
The Proverbial Heart of Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoða: “Mér Þykkir Þar Heimskum Manni at Duga, Sem Þú Ert.”
The Proverbial Heart of Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða: “Mér þykkir þar heimskum manni at duga, sem þú ert.” RICHARD L. HARRIS ABSTRACT: This essay considers the thematic force of a proverbial allusion in Hrafnkels saga when the political dilettante Sámr Bjarnason reluctantly agrees to help his uncle Þorbjǫrn seek redress for the killing of his son by Hrafnkell Freysgoði. “Mér þykkir þar heimskum manni at duga, sem þú ert” [I want you to know that in my opinion I am helping a fool in helping you], he comments, alluding to the traditional proverb Illt er heimskum lið at veita [It’s bad to give help to the foolish] setting one theme of this short but complex and much studied narrative. Examination of the story suggests that nearly all of its characters behave with varying degrees of foolishness. Further, it can be seen that Sámr’s foolishness dictates his fall after defeating Hrafnkell in legal proceedings and that, conversely, Hrafnkell’s rehabilitation is the result of correcting that unwise social behaviour which led to his initial defeat. RÉSUMÉ: Cet article examine la force thématique derrière une phrase proverbiale trouvée dans l’œuvre Hrafnkels saga. Lorsqu’un dilettante politique, Sámr Bjarnason, accepte à contrecoeur d’aider son oncle, Þorbjǫrn, à obtenir réparation pour le meurtre de son fils aux mains de Hrafnkell Freysgoði, il déclare, « Mér þykkir þar heimskum manni at duga, sem þú ert » [je veux que vous sachiez que, selon moi, j’aide un abruti en vous aidant]. Son commentaire fait allusion au proverbe traditionnel, Illt er heimskum lið at veita [il est mal d’offrir de l’aide à un sot]. -
Power and Political Communication. Feasting and Gift Giving in Medieval Iceland
Power and Political Communication. Feasting and Gift Giving in Medieval Iceland By Vidar Palsson A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor John Lindow, Co-chair Professor Thomas A. Brady Jr., Co-chair Professor Maureen C. Miller Professor Carol J. Clover Fall 2010 Abstract Power and Political Communication. Feasting and Gift Giving in Medieval Iceland By Vidar Palsson Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor John Lindow, Co-chair Professor Thomas A. Brady Jr., Co-chair The present study has a double primary aim. Firstly, it seeks to analyze the sociopolitical functionality of feasting and gift giving as modes of political communication in later twelfth- and thirteenth-century Iceland, primarily but not exclusively through its secular prose narratives. Secondly, it aims to place that functionality within the larger framework of the power and politics that shape its applications and perception. Feasts and gifts established friendships. Unlike modern friendship, its medieval namesake was anything but a free and spontaneous practice, and neither were its primary modes and media of expression. None of these elements were the casual business of just anyone. The argumentative structure of the present study aims roughly to correspond to the preliminary and general historiographical sketch with which it opens: while duly emphasizing the contractual functions of demonstrative action, the backbone of traditional scholarship, it also highlights its framework of power, subjectivity, limitations, and ultimate ambiguity, as more recent studies have justifiably urged. -
The Waning Sword E Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf DWARD the Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and EDWARD PETTIT P
The Waning Sword E Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf DWARD The Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and EDWARD PETTIT P The image of a giant sword mel� ng stands at the structural and thema� c heart of the Old ETTIT Celestial Myth in Beowulf English heroic poem Beowulf. This me� culously researched book inves� gates the nature and signifi cance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely rela� ves within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fi elds of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and compara� ve mythology. In Part I, Pe� t explores the complex of connota� ons surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may func� on as a visual mo� f in which pre-Chris� an Germanic concepts and prominent Chris� an symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pe� t inves� gates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in rela� on to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across � me. Drawing on an eclec� c range of narra� ve and linguis� c evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pe� t suggests that the T image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may refl ect HE an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, ar� culated through an underlying W myth about the the� and repossession of sunlight. ANING The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celesti al Myth in Beowulf is a welcome contribu� on to the overlapping fi elds of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. -
REVIEWS Chieftains and Power In
REVIEWS as many as 50-60 chieftencies. Jon Vidar Sigurdsson After that their number started decreasing, and by 1118 there Chieftains and Power in the were no more than c. 30 left. Icelandic Commonwealth "There was a similar reduction in numbers in the period from 1118 Translated by Jean Lundskrer to 1220, when about 20 Nielsen disappeared" (p. 64). So early in the thirteenth century there were Odense University Press, Odense, only nine or ten chieftains in the 1999, pp. 215 entIre country controlling as many 'domains', instead of the thirty-six chieftencies back in The book under review is a 930. The original power system translation of a Ph. D. thesis from had in fact collapsed. the University of Bergen, and JSV's account of this betrays its ongins in a number of development is partly based on ways. Like so many other theses conjecture, but on the whole it is of its kind it is brimming with lucid and well-argued. My enthusiasm for its subject and principal criticism of his book is devoid of the cynicism we often abouthis treatment of the Sagas of find in the works of older Icelanders, which tell us much scholars. On the other hand, the more about the goaar and ideas author's (hereafter referred to as relating to them than his book JVS) perception of early Icelandic serves to indicate. Vatnsdrela saga literature is somewhat vague at which has seen called hofOingja times. skuggsjd "a mirror for chieftains" The essential Eurpose of the presents porsteinn Ingimundarson book is to is descnbe the nature and evolution of political power as an ideal gooi: he is moderate, in Iceland, in particular the fair-minded, patient, shrewd, system of gOOar (sg. -
Hrafnkels Saga and Other Icelandic Stories Free Download
HRAFNKELS SAGA AND OTHER ICELANDIC STORIES FREE DOWNLOAD Hermann Palsson | 144 pages | 29 Jan 1976 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780140442380 | English | London, United Kingdom Hrafnkel's Saga and Other Icelandic Stories He refuses and rides back home. Stay in Touch Sign up. Copenhagen: Munksgaard. For these reasons, it has served as a test case in the dispute on the origins of the Icelandic sagas. These fascinating tales deal with powerful human emotions, suffering and dignity at a time of profound transition, when traditional ideals were gradually yielding to a more peaceful pastoral lifestyle. There are great moments of sacrifice, honour, and a subtle sense of humour in some of these stories. This is the book I ought to have started with when I began to dip into Icelandic sagas again recently. I was especially drawn to the sense of place in these tales, and how places became tied to events when Freyfaxi the horse is killed on a bluff, it is forever after known as Freyfaxahamar. Fulk, R. Hrafnkell longs for power Hrafnkels Saga and Other Icelandic Stories soon establishes himself as a chieftain by bullying people in neighbouring valleys. Copenhagen: G. Several of the other stories have similar themes but have a somewhat different tone, being more like a cross between a short biography of an individual and the anecdotes about him that would get told down the pub on a long winter's night. Scholars have identified the likely author as Abbot Brand Jonson, a 13th century intellectual, church leader, teacher, and mediator. Bogs and moors are described in great detail, as if the reader were being told how to get to Thorkel's farmstead.