Althing
| alpingi
: General assembly. See Introduction,
pp. xlvi-xlvii
and ‘Social and Political Structure’.
|
arch of raised turf
| jariarmen
: In order to confirm sworn brotherhood, the participants had to mix their blood and walk under an arch of raised turf: ‘A long piece of sod was cut from a grassy field but the ends left uncut. It was raised up into an arch, under which the person carrying out the ordeal had to pass’ (
The Saga of the People of Laxardal
, ch. 18).
|
Autumn Meeting
| leid, leidarping
: Held after the Althing and generally lasting one or two days at the end of July or beginning of August. Proceedings and decisions from the Althing were announced at the Autumn Meeting, which had no judicial role.
|
ball game
| knattleiiur
: A game played with a hard ball and a bat, possibly similar to the Gaelic game known as hurling, which is still played in Scotland and Ireland. The exact rules, however, are uncertain. See, for example, the description of the game in
Gisli Sursson’s Saga
, chs. 15 and 18.
|
bat
| knattdrepa, knatttré
: See ball game.
|
bed closet
| hvílugólf, lokrekkja, lokhvila, lokrekkjugólf
: A private sleeping area used by the heads of better-off households. The closet was partitioned off from the rest of the house, and had a door that was secured from the inside. (See illustration in ‘The Farm’.)
|
berserk
| berserkur: (Literally ‘bear-shirt’). A man who slipped or deliberately worked himself into an animal-like frenzy, which hugely increased his strength and made him apparently immune to the effect of blows from weapons. The berserks are paradoxical figures, prized as warriors and evidently regarded as having supernatural powers (perhaps bestowed on them by Odin, the god of warriors), but in the sagas, this mysticism is beginning to wear off. They are often presented as stock figures, generally bullies who are none too bright, and when heroes do away with them, there is usually little regret, and a great deal of local relief. Closely related to the original concept of the berserk (implied by its literal meaning) are the shape-shifters.
|
black
| Often used here to translate
blár
, which in modern Icelandic means only ‘blue’.
|
bloody wound
| dverki
: Almost always used in a legal sense, that is with regard to a visible, most likely bloody wound, which could result in legal actions for compensation, or some more drastic proceedings like the taking of revenge.
|
board game
| tafl: Tafl
probably often refers to chess which had plainly reached Scandinavia before the twelfth century. However, in certain cases it might also refer to another board game known as
bnefatafl
. The rules of the latter game are uncertain, even though we know what the boards looked like.
|
booth
| búd
: A temporary dwelling used by those who attended the various assemblies. Structurally, it seems to have involved permanent walls which were covered by a tent-like roof, probably made of cloth.
|
bride-price
| mundur
: In formal terms, this was the amount that the prospective husband’s family gave to the prospective wife’s family at the wedding. According to Icelandic law this was the personal property of the wife. See also dowry.
|
compensation
| manngjold, bietur
: Penalties imposed by the courts were of three main kinds: awards of compensation in cash; sentences of lesser outlawry, which could be lessened or dropped by the payment of compensation; and sentences of full outlawry with no chance of being compounded. In certain cases, a man’s right to immediate vengeance was recognized, but for many offences compensation was the fixed legal penalty and the injured party had little choice but to accept the settlement offered by the court, an arbitrator or a man who had been given the right to self-judgement (
sjdlfdtemi
). It was certainly legal to put pressure on the guilty party to pay. Neither court verdicts nor legislation, nor even the constitutional arrangements, had any coercive power behind them other than the free initiative of individual chieftains with their armed following.
|
confiscation court
| ferdnsdomur
: See ‘Social and Political Structure’.
|
cross-bench
| pallur, pverpallur
: A raised platform, or bench at the inner end of the main room, where women were usually seated.
|
directions
| austur/vestur/noriur/suiur
(east/west/north/south): These directional terms are used in a very wide sense in the sagas; they are largely dependent on context, and they cannot always be trusted to reflect compass directions. Internationally, ‘the east’ generally refers to the countries to the east and south-east of Iceland, and although ‘eastern’ usually refers to a Norwegian, it can also apply to a Swede (especially since the concept of nationality was still not entirely clear when the sagas were being written), and might even be used for a person who has picked up Russian habits. ‘The west’, or to ‘go west’, tends to refer to Ireland and what are now the British Isles, but might even refer to lands even farther afield; the point of orientation is west of Norway. When confined to Iceland, directional terms sometimes refer to the quarter to which a person is travelling, e.g. a man going to the Althing from the east of the country might be said to be going ‘south’ rather than the geographically more accurate ‘west’, and a person going home to the West Fjords from the Althing is said to be going ‘west’ rather than ‘north’.
|
dis
| dís
, pl.
disir
: These appear to have been high-ranking female guardian spirits that watched over farms, families and, occasionally, individuals. They have certain traits in common with fetches and valkyries, but were seen as being much more powerful, almost like minor local deities, since a sacrifice was made to them during the Winter Nights every year.
|
dowry
| heimanfylgja
: Literally ‘that which accompanies the bride from her home’. This was the amount of money (or land) that a bride’s father contributed at her wedding. Like the bride-price, it remained legally her property. However, the husband controlled the couple’s financial affairs and was responsible for the use to which both these assets were put.
|
drapa
| drdpa
: A heroic, laudatory poem, usually in the complicated metre preferred by the Icelandic poets. Such poems were in fashion between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. They were usually composed in honour of kings, earls and other prominent men; or they might be directed towards a loved one, composed in memory of the deceased or in relation to some religious matter. A drapa usually consisted of three parts: an introduction, a middle section including one or more refrains, and a conclusion. It was usually clearly distinguished from the flokk, which tended to be shorter, less laudatory and without refrains (see
The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue
ch. 9). For an example of a drapa, see
Egil’s Saga
, ch. 61.
|
duel
| hólmganga
: Used for a formally organized duel, literally meaning ‘going to the island’. This is probably because the area prescribed for the fight formed a small ‘island’ with clearly defined boundaries which separated the action from the outside world; it might also refer to the fact that small islands were originally favoured sites for duels. The rules included that the two duellists slashed at each other alternately, the seconds protecting the principal fighters with shields. Shields hacked to pieces could be replaced by up to three shields on either side. If blood was shed, the fight could be ended and the wounded man could buy himself off with a compensation payment of three marks of silver, either on the spot or later. The rules are stated in detail in
Kormak’s Saga
:
|
The duelling laws had it that the cloak was to be five ells square, with loops at the corners, and pegs had to be put down there of the kind that had a head at one end. They were called tarses, and he who made the preparations was to approach the tarses in such a way that he could see the sky between his legs while grasping his ear lobes with the invocation that has since been used again in the sacrifice known as the tarse-sacrifice. There were to be three spaces marked out all round the cloak, each a foot in breadth, and outside the marked spaces there should be four strings, named hazel poles; what you had was a hazel-poled stretch of ground, when that was done. You were supposed to have three shields, but when they were used up, you were to go on to the cloak, even if you had withdrawn from it before, and from then on you were supposed to protect yourself with weapons. He who was challenged had to strike. If one of the two was wounded in such a way that blood fell on to the cloak, there was no obligation to continue fighting. If someone stepped with just one foot outside the hazel poles, he was said to be retreating, or to be running if he did so with both. There would be a man to hold the shield for each one of the two fighting. He who was the more wounded of the two was to release himself by paying duel ransom, to the tune of three marks of silver. (
Ch. 10
).
|
The duel was formally banned by law in Iceland in 1006, six years after the Icelanders had accepted Christianity: see
The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue
, ch. 11.
|
earl
| jarl
: Title generally restricted to men of high rank in northern countries (though not in Iceland), who could be independent rulers or subordinate to a king. The title could be inherited, or it could be conferred by a king on a prominent supporter or leader of military forces. The earls of Lade who appear in a number of sagas and tales ruled large sections of northern Norway (and often many southerly areas as well) for several centuries. Another prominent, almost independent, earldom was that of Orkney and Shetland.
|
east
| austur
. See directions.
|
fetch
| fylgja
: Literally ‘someone that accompanies’, a fetch was a personal spirit which was closely attached to families and individuals, and often symbolized the fate that people were born with. If it appeared to an individual or others close to him or her, it would often signal the impending doom of that person. Fetches could take various forms, sometimes appearing in the shape of an animal. For an example, see
The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal
, ch. 36. As with most ghosts mentioned in the sagas, Icelandic fetches tended to be corporeal.
|
fire hall, fire room
| eldaskdli, eldbus
: In literal terms, the fire room or fire hall was a room or special building (as perhaps at Jarlshof in Shetland) containing a fire, and its primary function was that of a kitchen. Such a definition, however, would be too limited, since the fire hall/fire room was also used for eating, working and sleeping. Indeed, in many cases the words
eldhús
and
eldaskáli
seem to have been synonymous with the word skdli meaning the hall of a farm. See
Figure 4
in ‘The Farm’.
|
flokk
| flokkur
: A short poem, distinguished from a drapa. See also drapa.
|
follower
| hirSmadur
: A member of the inner circle of followers that surrounded the Scandinavian kings, a sworn king’s man.
|
foster-
| fostur–, fdstri, fostra
: Childen during the saga period were often brought up by foster-parents, who received either payment or support in return from the real parents. Being fostered was therefore somewhat different from being adopted: it was essentially a legal agreement and, more importantly, a form of alliance. Nonetheless, fostered children were seen as being part of the family circle emotionally, and in some cases legally. Relationships and loyalties between foster-kindred could become very strong. See also Introduction,
p. xl
. It should be noted that the expressions
fóstri/ fóstra
were also used for people who had the function of looking after, bringing up and teaching the children on the farm.
|
freed slave
| lausingi, leysingi
: A slave could be set or bought free, and thus acquired the general status of a free man, although this status was low, since if he/she died with no heir, his/her inheritance would return to the original owner. The children of freed slaves, however, were completely free.
|
full outlawry
| skóggangur
: Outlawry for life. One of the terms applied to a man sentenced to full outlawry was
skogarmabur
, which literally means ‘forest man’, even though in Iceland there was scant possibility of his taking refuge in a forest. Full outlawry simply meant banishment from civilized society, whether the local land district, the province or the whole country. It also meant the confiscation of the outlaw’s property to pay the prosecutor, cover debts and sometimes provide an allowance for the dependants he had left behind. A full outlaw was to be neither fed nor offered shelter. According to one legal codex from Norway, it was ‘as if he were dead’. He had lost all goods, and all rights. Wherever he went he could be killed without any legal redress. His children became illegitimate and his body was to be buried in unconsecrated ground.
|
