Note to Angantýr Lv 1VIII (Heiðr 29)
[All]: The draugr or animate, corporeal ghost of a deceased person, in particular the inhabitant of a burial mound (LP; Fritzner; CVC; cf. haugbúi ‘mound-dweller’) is a common figure in Old Norse literature. The revenant may remain inside the mysteriously-opened mound (see Heiðr 22/6), as Angantýr does here, or break out to interact with (often haunt) the living (see Chadwick 1946 for comprehensive examples and discussion). The recitation of verse is a characteristic commonly associated with draugar (ibid., 61-5 and 106-18); for a situation similar to the present one, see Nj ch. 78, in which the mound of Gunnarr Hámundarson opens and he is heard to recite poetry (GunnHám Lv 14V (Nj 29)), although in that instance there is no-one involved in dialogue with him. SnSt Ht 30III exemplifies a metre called there draughent, though it is not clear whether this means ‘ghost-rhymed’ or ‘trunk-rhymed’ (see Note to [All] there).
References
- Bibliography
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- Chadwick, Nora (Kershaw). 1946. ‘Norse Ghosts (A Study in the Draugr and the Haugbúi)’. Folklore 57, 50-65; 106-27.
- Internal references
- 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Njáls saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1220-1313. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=55> (accessed 20 April 2024)
- Hannah Burrows (ed.) 2017, ‘Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks 69 (Gestumblindi, Heiðreks gátur 22)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 435.
- Not published: do not cite (GunnHámV)
- R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2022, ‘Njáls saga 29 (Gunnarr Hámundarson, Lausavísur 14)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1256.
- Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 30’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1136.