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Reginnaglar
''Reginnaglar'' (singular ''reginnagli'') is a word occurring twice in surviving Old Norse writings. Its meaning is unclear but it is a compound of ''reginn'', "powers/rulers/gods/sacred" and ''naglar'', "nails". Despite its rarity, the word has occasioned quite extensive scholarly debate because it may give insight into Norse mythology. Occurrence in ''Glælognskviða'' The first attestation is in a rather cryptic kenning in stanza 10 of the skaldic poem ''Glælognskviða'' by Þórarinn loftunga, thought to date from 1030×34. In it, Þórarinn advises King Svein Knutsson of Norway, encouraging him to pray to his predecessor, Olaf II of Norway; the poem is among our earliest evidence for Olaf's status as a saint in Norway. One of the exhortations to Sveinn to pray runs ::þás þú rekr ::fyr reginnagla ::bóka máls ::bænir þínar which appears literally to mean 'when you perform/present your prayers in front of the sacred nail(s) 'reginnagla''of the language/speech/measu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olaf II Of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae'' ( en, Eternal/Perpetual King of Norway) and canonised at Nidaros (Trondheim) by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. His remains were enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral, built over his burial site. His sainthood encouraged the widespread adoption of Christianity by Scandinavia's Vikings/Norsemen. Pope Alexander III confirmed Olaf's local canonisation in 1164, making him a recognised saint of the Catholic Church and started to be known as ''Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae'' – ''eternal king of Norway''. Following the Reformation he was a commemorated historical figure among some members of the Lutheran and Anglican Communions. The saga of Olav Haraldsson and the legend of Olaf the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their Viking expansion, overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 7th to the 15th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid-to-late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse, ''Old West Norse'' or ''Old West Nordic'' (often referred to as ''Old Norse''), Old East Norse, ''Old East Norse'' or ''Old East Nordic'', and ''Ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norse Mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition. The source texts mention numerous gods such as the thunder-god Thor, the raven-flanked god Odin, the goddess Freyja, and numerous other deities. Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with several other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of the gods. The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English poetry. They continued to be a feature of Icelandic poetry (including ''rímur'') for centuries, together with the closely related heiti. A kenning has two parts: a base-word (also known as a head-word) and a determinant. For example, the base-word of the kenning "íss rauðra randa" ('icicle of red shields' WORD Einarr Skúlason: ''Øxarflokkr'' 9) is ''íss'' ('ice, icicle') and the determinant is ''rǫnd'' ('rim, shield-rim, shield'). The thing, person, place or being to which the kenning refers is known as its referent (in this case a sword). Although kennings are sometimes hyphenated in English translation, Old Norse poetry did not require kennings to be in normal word order, nor do the parts of the kenning need to be side-by-side. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally composed on one occasion, sometimes extempore, and include both extended works and single verses ('' lausavísur''). They are characteristically more ornate in form and diction than eddic poems, employing many kennings and heiti, more interlacing of sentence elements, and the complex ''dróttkvætt'' metre. More than 5,500 skaldic verses have survived, preserved in more than 700 manuscripts, including in several sagas and in Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'', a handbook of skaldic composition that led to a revival of the art. Many of these verses are fragments of originally longer works, and the authorship of many is unknown. The earliest known skald from whom verses survive is Bragi Boddason, known as Bragi the Old, a Norwegian skald of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Þórarinn Loftunga
Þórarinn loftunga was an Icelandic skald active during the first half of the 11th century. He composed ''Tögdrápa'', a poem in praise of King Canute. Like Sigvatr Þórðarson's poem in praise of the same king, ''Knútsdrápa'', the ''Tøgdrápa'' is composed in the metrical form '' töglag'', a variant of ''dróttkvætt'' which may have been invented at King Canute's court. According to ''Skáldatal'', Þórarinn was also a court poet to Sveinn Knútsson, son of Knút, and his mother Ælfgifu of Northampton. In Sveinn's honour he wrote ''Glælognskviða'', which is also the oldest extant testimony to the sainthood of King Olaf II of Norway. Works #''Höfuðlausn''. Two lines referring to Canute: ''Knútr verr grund sem gætir / Gríklands himinríki.'' ("As Christ the heavenly kingdom, / Knútr defends the country.").''Höfuðlausn'', ed. Matthew Townend, ''Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages'', ed. Margaret Clunies Ross ''et al''., volume 1; tr. Lee M. Hollander, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svein Knutsson
Svein Knutsson (Old Norse: ''Sveinn Knútsson''; c. 1016–1035) was the son of Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, Norway, and England, and his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton, a Mercian noblewoman. In 1017 Cnut married Emma of Normandy, but there is no evidence that Ælfgifu was repudiated, and in 1030 Cnut sent her and Svein as regents to rule Norway. However, their rule was considered oppressive by the Norwegians. They imposed new taxes and harsh laws that made them unpopular and they were expelled in 1034.Derry, T. K., A history of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland', University of Minnesota Press, 2000, p. 40. Names Svein Knutsson is also mentioned as Sveinn Alfífuson (matronym) and under the epithet ''óforsynjukonungr'' ("unforeseen king"). In Norwegian, his name is ''Svein Knutsson''; in Danish, ''Svend Knudsen''. Many variations of the name are used, including Sven and Sweyn, from the Anglo-Saxon Swegen. He was the second ruler of Norway by this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Clunies Ross
Margaret Beryl Clunies Ross (born 24 April 1942) is a medievalist who was until her retirement in 2009 the McCaughey Professor of English Language and Early English Literature and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Sydney. Her main research areas are Old Norse-Icelandic Studies and the history of their study.Professor Margaret Clunies Ross Staff profile, Department of English, University of Sydney, 7 December 2010, retrieved 20 January 2011. Since 1997 she has led the project of editing a new edition of the corpus of . She has also written articles on |
Sagas Of Icelanders
The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early eleventh centuries, during the so-called Saga Age. They were written in Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse. They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature. They are focused on history, especially genealogical and family history. They reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the societies of the early generations of Icelandic settlers. The Icelandic sagas are valuable and unique historical sources about medieval Scandinavian societies and kingdoms, in particular in regards to pre-Christian religion and culture. Eventually many of these Icelandic sagas were recorded, mostly in the 13th and 14th centuries. The 'authors', or rather recorders of these sagas are largely unknown. One saga, ''Egil's Saga'', is beli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Öndvegissúlur
Öndvegissúlur (), or high-seat pillars, were a pair of wooden poles placed on each side of the high-seat—the place where the head of household would have sat—in a Viking-period Scandinavian house. According to descriptions in ''Landnámabók'' and several sagas, written long after settlement of Iceland, some of the first settlers brought high-seat pillars with them from Norway. Once land was sighted, the high-seat pillars were thrown overboard, and a permanent farm was established where the pillars washed ashore. The first farm established in Iceland, located where the capital, Reykjavík, stands today, was allegedly founded using this method. One saga refers to a high-seat pillar having been carved with an image of the god Thor, and Icelandic saga '' Eyrbyggja saga'' relates that when Þórólfur Mostrarskegg (Thorolf Most-Beard) constructed a temple after reaching Iceland, the high seat pillars had reginnaglar (Old Icelandic "god-nails" or "power-nails") in them.Eyrbyggja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clay Nail
Used by Sumerians and other Mesopotamian cultures beginning in the third millennium BC, clay nails, also referred to as dedication or foundation pegs, cones, or nails, were cone-shaped nails made of clay, inscribed with cuneiform, baked, and stuck into the mudbrick walls to serve as evidence that the temple or building was the divine property of the god to whom it was dedicated. Versions were also made of metal, including castings with figurative designs, such as the Hurrian foundation pegs (Syria, c. 2300 – c. 2159 BCE). Additionally, uninscribed clay cones painted in different colors were used by Sumerians to create decorative mosaic patterns on walls and pillars of buildings, which also offered some protection against weathering. The similar funerary cones of ancient Egypt used the cone base as the major writing surface. Foundation nail examples As some of the oldest 'documents' in history, the sponsor, responsible for the construction, or dedication of a work, some of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
