Ormr Steinþórsson was a

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 ...

about whom little is known. Seven fragments of poetry by him are quoted in the ''

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 ...

'' section of

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 ...

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

. One of those fragments is also quoted in the ''Third Grammatical Treatise'' by

Óláfr Þórðarson Óláfr Þórðarson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; – 1259) was an Icelandic skald and scholar. He is usually called Óláfr hvítaskáld (O.N.: ; M.I.: ; "Olaf the white skald") in contrast to a contemporary skald called Óláfr Leggsson ...

while an additional fragment is quoted in the

Laufás-Edda Laufás-Edda (''Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar'') is a 17th-century redaction of the Snorra Edda, which survives in numerous Icelandic manuscripts. History Laufás Edda was compiled by the Icelandic priest and poet Magnús Ólafsson (c.1573–1636) on ...

. Most of the fragments are in the '' hálfhnept'' meter.

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was born a ...

grouped Ormr with Icelandic poets from ca. 900 to ca. 1050 on the basis of the character of his verse. He described Ormr as "apparently a capable poet" and the contents of his verses as "erotic-ironic". More recent scholars have suggested that Ormr was a 12th-century poet and that five or six of his fragments belong together with a fragment of ''Snæfríðardrápa'' attributed to Haraldr hárfagri in the

Flateyjarbók ''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey, Breiðafjörður, Flatey") is an important medieval Iceland, Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and p ...

. Ormr may have based the poem on a fairy-tale about Haraldr's love for Snæfríðr.Faulkes 1998:161.

Notes

References

* Eysteinn Björnsson. ''Ormr Steinþórsson'', http://www3.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/ormr.html * Faulkes, Anthony (1998). ''Snorri Sturluson : Edda : Skáldskaparmál''. 1. Introduction, Text and Notes. Viking Society for Northern Research, London. * Finnur Jónsson (1920). ''Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie''. Anden udgave. Første bind. G. E. C. Gads forlag, København. {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinthorsson, Ormr Ormr Steinthorsson