Þulur

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Yelena Sesselja Helgadóttir (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Domains

Poetic/ rhetorical term

Dates

Date of occurrence 1150-

Places

Iceland (Location)

Resources

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The term

þulur

(sing.

þula

, cognate to Old Norse/Icelandic

þylja

[“chant”, “murmur”, “speak”]) has traditionally been applied to a variety of poetic forms in the Middle Ages and post-Reformation period. In scholarly usage, a

þula

is “a versified list of names” (Gurevich 2017, 651). However, such a basic definition does not suffice to describe either medieval or post-medieval poetry known as

þulur

. This article discusses Old Norse/Icelandic

þulur

(skaldic and eddic;

ONIÞ

) and the Icelandic genre of folk poetry designated as post-medieval

þulur

(

PMÞ

) as well as related post-medieval poetic forms that have received little scholarly attention.

Gurevich (2017) discusses in particular “versified catalogues of poetic terms (heiti) for the main subjects of skaldic

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3161 words

Citation: Helgadóttir, Yelena Sesselja. "Þulur". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 January 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19660, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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Þulur

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