Magic in Old Icelandic Prose Texts

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Andrea Maraschi ( Universita Degli Studi di Bari)

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)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1150-

Places

Iceland (Location)

Genres and Modes

Prose Fiction Narrative

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

“Magic” is a highly problematic term which scholars are gradually discarding in favour of terminology reflecting internal perspectives. This is because our modern notion of “magic” is burdened by bias, and has historically represented “the religion of the other” (Davies, 41). The most recurrent terms to identify magic practices in Old Icelandic texts are

fjölkynngi

galdr

seiðr, trolldómr

(Maraschi, “Magic, Miracles, and Rituals”; Meylan, “The Magical Power of Poetry”, 46). For instance, the medieval Icelandic law code known as

Grágás

(written down in 1117) punishes “galldra…gørningar…fiolkýngi” with lesser outlawry, and sometimes with permanent banishment (

Grágás

, 22; Mitchell, 347). According to this law code,

fiolkýngi

consists of…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2270 words

Citation: Maraschi, Andrea. "Magic in Old Icelandic Prose Texts". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 June 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19719, accessed 28 April 2024.]

Save this article