[4] Mistilteinn: Lit. ‘mistletoe’. The sword of Sæmingr Arngrímsson in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (FSN I, 416), also owned by several other heroes of the fornaldarsögur. The name must have been taken from the myth of Baldr, who was slain by a twig of mistletoe (cf. Vsp 31-3; Gylf, SnE 2005, 45-8). Mistilteinn is not used elsewhere as a heiti for ‘sword’.
References
- Bibliography
- FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 367. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=23> (accessed 26 April 2024)
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 26 April 2024)
- Not published: do not cite ()