[4] askr (m.) ‘ash’: I.e. a small ship made of ash-wood (cf. LP: askr B.2 and ESkál Vell 4/2I). There is evidence that the word denoted ‘Viking ship’ in the older Germanic languages (Falk 1912, 87; Jesch 2001a, 135-6). Cf. Ascomannos ‘Ashmen’ used synonymously with Wichingos ‘Vikings’ by Adam of Bremen (Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum; Schmeidler 1917, Book II, ch. 29), OE æsc ‘light vessel’ and æscman ‘sailor, pirate’. Askr is used several times for Hjálmarr’s and Oddr’s ship in Ǫrvar-Odds saga (e.g. ch. 13, FSN II, 206) and also as the first element in the nickname askmaðr ‘ship-man’ (Finnur Jónsson 1907, 284).
References
- Bibliography
- FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
- 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.
- Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
- Schmeidler, Bernhard, ed. 1917. Magistri Adami Bremensis. Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte / Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum 2. 3rd edn. Hannover and Leipzig: Hahn.
- Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1907. ‘Tilnavne i den islandske oldlitteratur’. ÅNOH, 161-381.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 9 May 2024)
- Edith Marold (ed.) 2012, ‘Einarr skálaglamm Helgason, Vellekla 4’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 287.