[2] Hvíta-Kristr ‘White-Christ’: The only other skaldic occurrence of this name for Christ is Þdís SaintIII; for other examples, see CVC: hvítr B. II. 1. In medieval Celtic texts, Christ is often called ‘white’, since the words for ‘white’ (Irish bán, Welsh gwyn) also mean ‘holy’, and this may be the origin of the Norse usage. Alternatively, ‘white’ may arise from the wearing of white baptismal garments by converts.
References
- Bibliography
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Internal references
- Margaret Clunies Ross 2017, ‘ Þorbjǫrn dísarskáld, Poem about a Saint’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 472. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1428> (accessed 26 April 2024)