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Riddles (Scandinavian)
Riddles (Old Norse, Icelandic and Faroese ''gáta'', pl. ''gátur''; Bokmål and Nynorsk ''gåte'', pl. ''gåter''; Danish ''gåde'', pl. ''gåder''; Swedish ''gåta'', pl. ''gåtor'') are widely attested in post-medieval Scandinavian languages, though the traditional, oral riddle fell out of widespread use during the later twentieth century, being replaced by other oral-literary forms, and by other tests of wit such as quizzes. Medieval period Few riddles are attested from medieval Scandinavia (by contrast with the numerous Anglo-Saxon riddles in the quite closely connected literature of medieval England), although Norse mythology does attest to a number of other wisdom-contests, usually involving the god Óðinn, and the complex metaphors of the extensive corpus of skaldic verse present an enigmatic aesthetic similar to riddles. A number of riddles from medieval Scandinavia are also attested in Latin. Almost all the surviving Old Norse riddles occur in one section of the Icelandi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riddle
A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and ''conundra'', which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer. Archer Taylor says that "we can probably say that riddling is a universal art" and cites riddles from hundreds of different cultures including Finnish, Hungarian, American Indian, Chinese, Russian, Dutch and Filipino sources amongst many others. Many riddles and riddle-themes are internationally widespread. In the assessment of Elli Köngäs-Maranda (originally writing about Malaitian riddles, but with an insight that has been taken up more widely), whereas myths serve to encode and establish social norms, "riddles make a point of playing with conceptual boundaries and cross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Björn Jónsson á Skarðsá
Bjorn (English, Dutch), Björn (Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, and German), Bjørn (Danish, Faroese and Norwegian), Beorn (Old English) or, rarely, Bjôrn, Biorn, or Latinized Biornus, Brum (Portuguese), is a Scandinavian languages , Scandinavian male given name, or less often a surname. The name means "bear" (the animal). In Finnish language, Finnish and Finland Swedish, sometimes also in Sweden, Swedish, the nickname Nalle ("teddy bear") refers to Björn. Surname *Claus Bjørn, Danish author, historian, and television and radio broadcaster *Evert Björn, Swedish Olympic athlete *Hugo Björne, Swedish actor *Kristian Bjørn, Norwegian skier *Lars Björn, Lars "Lasse" Björn, Swedish Olympic ice hockey player *Thomas Bjørn, Danish golfer Given name Acting *Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor and musician *Björn Bjelfvenstam, Swedish actor *Björn Granath, Swedish actor *Björn Gustafsson, Swedish comedian and actor *Björn Kjellman, Swedish actor and singer *Björn Skifs, Swedish sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldhelm
Aldhelm ( ang, Ealdhelm, la, Aldhelmus Malmesberiensis) (c. 63925 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex.Walsh ''A New Dictionary of Saints'' pp. 21–22 He was certainly not, as his early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine. After his death he was venerated as a saint, his feast day being the day of his death, 25 May. Life Early life and education Aldhelm received his first education in the school of the Irish scholar and monk Máeldub (also ''Maildubh'', ''Maildulf'' or ''Meldun'') (died ), who had settled in the British stronghold of Bladon (or ''Bladow'') on the site of the town called Mailduberi, Maldubesburg, Meldunesburg, etc., and finally Malmesbury, after him. In 668, Pope Vitalian sent Theodore of Tarsus to be Archbishop of Canterbury. At the same time the North A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baldr
Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in Old English as , and in Old High German as , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym ('hero' or 'prince'). During the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story. Compiled in Iceland during the 13th century, but based on older Old Norse poetry, the ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' contain numerous references to the death of Baldr as both a great tragedy to the Æsir and a harbinger of Ragnarök. According to ''Gylfaginning'', a book of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Baldr's wife is Nanna and their son is Forseti. Baldr had the greatest ship ever built, Hringhorni, and there is no place more beautiful than his hall, Breidablik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleipnir
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: ; "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Sleipnir is Odin's steed, is the child of Loki and Svaðilfari, is described as the best of all horses, and is sometimes ridden to the location of Hel (location), Hel. The ''Prose Edda'' contains extended information regarding the circumstances of Sleipnir's birth, and details that he is grey in color. Sleipnir is also mentioned in a riddle found in the 13th century legendary saga ''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks'', in the 13th-century legendary saga ''Völsunga saga'' as the ancestor of the horse Grani, and book I of ''Gesta Danorum'', written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, contains an episode considered by many scholars to involve Sl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ægir
Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer'), is a jötunn and a personification of the sea in Norse mythology. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his halls and is associated with brewing ale. Ægir is attested as married to a goddess, Rán, who also personifies the sea, and together the two produced daughters who personify waves, the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán, and Ægir's son is Snær, personified snow. Ægir may also be the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, wife of the god Freyr, or these may be two separate figures who share the same name (see below and Gymir (father of Gerðr)). One of Ægir's names, ''Hlér'', is the namesake of the island Læsø (Old Norse ''Hléysey'' 'Hlér's island') and perhaps also Lejre in Denmark. Scholars have long analyzed Ægir's role in the Old Norse corpus, and the concept of the figure has had some influence in modern popular culture. Names ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hnefatafl
Tafl games (pronounced avl also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Nordic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the Roman game Ludus latrunculorum. Names of different variants of Tafl include Hnefatafl, Tablut, Tawlbwrdd, Brandubh, Ard RÃ, and Alea Evangelii. Games in the tafl family were played in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Britain, Ireland, and Lapland. Tafl gaming was eventually supplanted by chess in the 12th century, Murray 1951, pp. 56–57. but the tafl variant of the Sami people, tablut, was in play until at least the 18th century. The rules for tablut were written down by the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus in 1732, and these were translated from Latin to English in 1811. All modern tafl games are based on the 1811 translation, which had many errors. New rules were added to amend the issues resulting from these errors, leading to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddaic Poetry
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic medieval manuscript known as the ''Codex Regius'', which contains 31 poems. The ''Codex Regius'' is arguably the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. Since the early 19th century, it has had a powerful influence on Scandinavian literature, not only through its stories, but also through the visionary force and the dramatic quality of many of the poems. It has also been an inspiration for later innovations in poetic meter, particularly in Nordic languages, with its use of terse, stress-based metrical schemes that lack final rhymes, instead focusing on alliterative devices and strongly concentrated imagery. Poets who have acknowledged their debt to the ''Codex Regius'' include Vilhelm Ekelund, August Strin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scandinavian Languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also referred to as the Nordic languages, a direct translation of the most common term used among Danish, Faroese, Icelandic,Elfdalian,Norwegian, Gutnish, and Swedish scholars and people. The term ''North Germanic languages'' is used in comparative linguistics, whereas the term Scandinavian languages appears in studies of the modern standard languages and the dialect continuum of Scandinavia. Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are close enough to form a strong mutual intelligibility where cross-border communication in native languages is very common. Approximately 20 million people in the Nordic countries speak a Scandinavian language as their native language,Holmberg, Anders and Christer Platzack (2005). "The Scandinavian languages". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
