Gamli gnævaðarskáld was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

. One half-stanza from a poem about

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

dealing with the god's fight against

Jörmungandr In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (, see Etymology), also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent (, "worm of Midgard"), is an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth ( Midga ...

and one fragment from a poem about an unidentifiable king are all that survive of his work. They were preserved in

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

's ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

'' (4, 64). It is often stated that Gamli lived in the 10th century but Rudolf Simek and Hermann Pálsson consider this "pure speculation". The meaning of Gamli's nickname is unclear. He may have composed a poem about a person whose nickname was Gnævaðr ("raised high", "towering"). Rudolf Simek and Hermann Pálsson suggest that "Gnævaðar" may apply to Gamli himself. The nickname should thus be understood as "the outstanding skald"."Der herausragende Skalde". Simek, Pálsson, ''op. cit.''

Notes

External links

Gamli's poetry in Old Norse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamli Gnaevadarskald Icelandic poets Viking Age poets Icelandic male poets