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Giants’ Names in old and post-medieval Icelandic þulur
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-1-57-75
Abstract
The article presents an analysis of major lists of the names of people and anthropomorphic beings in þulur síðari alda (post-medieval Icelandic þulur). At least some names from each list can be traced back to Old Icelandic lists of giants’ names (heiti) in the Prose Edda. It is further demonstrated that some post-medieval þulur continue the naming tradition discernible in Rígsþula and Allra flagða þula, relying on the names of household items and features of the people/trolls’ appearance and behaviour as sources for their names, while other post-medieval þulur instead continue the naming tradition of Hyndluljóð, where names (including those of berserks) are closer to normal human names. The naming of anthropomorphic beings – whether giants or humans – is thus not a homogeneous tradition either in Old Icelandic pulur or in post-medieval pulur, and the borderlines between the RÞ+AFÞ-branch of naming tradition and the HdL-branch continue into the naming practices in different name lists in post-medieval þulur.
About the Author
Ye. О. Yershova (Yelena Sesselja Helgadóttir)Iceland
Yelena Sesselja Helgadóttir (Yelena O. Yershova), PhD-candidate (Icelandic Literature), University of Iceland, The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
Árnagarði við Suðurgötu, IS-102 Reykjavík
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Supplementary files
For citation: Yershova (Yelena Sesselja Helgadóttir) Y.О. Giants’ Names in old and post-medieval Icelandic þulur. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2020;(1):57-75. https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-1-57-75
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