Cookies on our website

We use cookies on this website, mainly to provide a secure browsing experience but also to collect statistics on how the website is used. You can find out more about the cookies we set, the information we store and how we use it on the cookies page.

Continue

skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Menu Search

Note to Snæbj Lv 1III

[8] Amlóða ‘of Amlóði <legendary hero>’: This is the oldest unambiguous attestation of the name Hamlet. On the etymology of the name, see AEW: Amlóði and NN §3221. Whereas most eds assume that this stanza refers to the legendary figure Amlethus described by Saxo, a few scholars, for etymological reasons, regard Amlóði as a storm demon (see the discussion in AEW: Amlóði, as well Meissner 1927, 383 and Krause 1969, 94). However, there is strong evidence that the stanza refers to the legendary Hamlet figure in a particular situation (see Note to ll. 6, 8), and the etymology is not a sound basis for postulating the existence of an otherwise unknown sea (or storm) demon.

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
  3. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
  4. Krause, Arnulf. 1969. ‘Die Hamletstrophe Snæbjǫrns’. In Gellinek 1969, 87-97.
  5. Meissner, Rudolf. 1927. ‘Der Name Hamlet’. IF 45, 370-94.

Close

Log in

This service is only available to members of the relevant projects, and to purchasers of the skaldic volumes published by Brepols.
This service uses cookies. By logging in you agree to the use of cookies on your browser.

Close