Galdr
Template:Short description Template:Italic title
A Script error: No such module "Lang". (plural Script error: No such module "Lang".) or Script error: No such module "Lang". (plural Script error: No such module "Lang".) refers to a spell or incantation in Old Norse and Old English respectively; these were usually performed in combination with certain rites.[1]
Etymology
Template:Langx and Template:Langx or Script error: No such module "Lang". are derived from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic *galdraz, meaning a song or incantation.[2][3] The terms are also related by the removal of an Indo-European -tro suffix to the verbs Template:Langx and Template:Langx, both derived from Proto-Germanic *galaną, meaning to sing or cast a spell.[4][5] In Old High German the Script error: No such module "Lang". suffix produced Script error: No such module "Lang". instead.[6]
The German forms were Old High German Script error: No such module "Lang". and Middle High German (MGH) Script error: No such module "Lang". "song, enchantment" (Konrad von Ammenhausen Schachzabelbuch 167b), surviving in (obsolete or dialectal) Modern German Script error: No such module "Lang". (witchcraft) and Script error: No such module "Lang". (witch).
From these terms are descended words such as the Icelandic verb Script error: No such module "Lang". "to sing, call out, yell", Template:Langx "magic" and as a component of nightingale (from Script error: No such module "Lang".), related to Script error: No such module "Lang"., the verb ancestral to Modern English yell.[7][8] The words are also cognate with Dutch Script error: No such module "Lang". "to yell, scream".
Attestations
Old Norse
Some incantations were composed in a special meter named Script error: No such module "Lang"..[9] This meter was similar to the six-lined Script error: No such module "Lang"., also used for ritual, but added at least one more C-line.[10] Diverse runic inscriptions suggest informal impromptu methods. Another characteristic is a performed parallelism,[10] see the stanza from Skirnismál, below.
A practical Script error: No such module "Lang". for women was one that made childbirth easier,[9] but they were also notably used for bringing madness onto another person, whence modern Swedish Script error: No such module "Lang". meaning "mad",[11] derived from the verb gala ('to sing, perform galdr').[12] Moreover, a master of the craft was also said to be able to raise storms, make distant ships sink, make swords blunt, make armour soft and decide victory or defeat in battles.[11] Examples of this can be found in Grógaldr and in Frithiof's Saga.[11] In Grógaldr, Gróa chants nine (a significant number in Norse mythology) Script error: No such module "Lang". to aid her son, and in Buslubœn, the schemes of king Ring of Östergötland are averted.[13]
It is also mentioned in several of the poems in the Poetic Edda, and for instance in Hávamál, where Odin claims to know 18 Script error: No such module "Lang"..[1] For instance, Odin mastered galdrar against fire, sword edges, arrows, fetters and storms, and he could conjure up the dead and speak to them.[14][15] There are other references in Skírnismál,[1] where Skirnir uses Script error: No such module "Lang". to force Gerðr to marry Freyr[13] as exemplified by the following stanza: Template:Verse translation
A notable reference to the use of Script error: No such module "Lang". is the eddic poem Oddrúnargrátr, where Borgny could not give birth before Oddrún had chanted "biting Script error: No such module "Lang"."[9] (but they are translated as potent charms, by Henry Adams Bellows below): Template:Verse translation
Old English
In Beowulf, Script error: No such module "Lang". are used to protect the dragon's hoard that was buried in a barrow:
Interpretation and discussion
It was performed by both women and men.[9] Some scholars have proposed they chanted it in falsetto (Script error: No such module "Lang".).[9][11]
See also
Notes
Bibliography
- Schön, Ebbe. (2004). Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. Template:ISBN.
- Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sørensen, P. (1998): Människor och makter i vikingarnas värld. Template:ISBN.
- ↑ a b c The article Galder in Nationalencyklopedin (1992)
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Hellquist, E. (1922). Svensk etymologisk ordbok. C. W. K. Gleerups förlag, Lund. p. 177
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sørensen 1998:72
- ↑ a b The article Galdralag in Nationalencyklopedin (1992)
- ↑ a b c d The article galder in Henrikson A., Törngren D. and Hansson L. (1998). Stora mythologiska uppslagsboken. Template:ISBN
- ↑ Svenska Akademiens Ordbok: galen
- ↑ a b The article galder in Nordisk familjebok (1908).
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Schön 2004:86