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Category Archives: Myth & Legend
Early Bloomer
One of the weirder characters in the saga I’m reading is a guy named Vagn Ákason, a sort of medieval Neoptolemus. He killed 3 men by the time he was 9. When he was 12, he commanded two pirate ships … Continue reading
Pointing Toward the End
Wearing my grading face (which strongly resembles Mung making the Sign of Mung).
Posted in academia, art, books, dogs, fantasy, fantasy art, Myth & Legend, sff
Tagged Lord Dunsany
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Viking-Era Marriage
A pleasingly domestic line in the saga I’m currently reading (which is mostly about war and killing). Ráðahagr Áka stendr með miklum blóma.—Jómsvíkinga Saga 17“Áka stands marriage with great bloom.” That’s the kind of marriage to have. I hope Þórgunn … Continue reading
Posted in books, language, Myth & Legend, words
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Joans Against the Moon Men
I misread a student’s handwriting and thought they had written “Prester Joan” (instead of “Prester John”). Now I can’t stop thinking of Prester Joan teaming up with Pope Joan to, I don’t know, conquer the moon or something. [edited to … Continue reading
Posted in academia, art, fantasy, fantasy art, history, Myth & Legend, sword-and-sorcery, words
Tagged Norvell Page
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A Ganelon By Any Other Name…
Typo of the day (which I discovered in an old slideshow from earlier this year): Gabolen. I’d intended to write Ganelon (the sinister traitor-knight in Charlemagne’s court). But Gabolen sounds like a pretty convincing name; maybe he/she/it will appear in … Continue reading
Posted in books, Morlock, Myth & Legend, Typo of the Day, words, writing
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The Hood, the Bad, and the Bitey
I was looking up something else in Cleasby & Vigfusson’s Old Norse dictionary when my eye fell on gríma, meaning “a kind of hood or cowl”; by extension “the night”. A lot of badasses, starting with Óðin, are called Grímr … Continue reading
Posted in art, fantasy, fantasy art, Myth & Legend, words
Tagged J.R.R. Tolkien, Old Norse
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Fífling Around
I fell into the dictionary again today and learned that Old Norse fífl (“fool”) also meant “monster” (cf Old English fifal “monster”), hence the fíflmegir (“monster men”) who rowed the hellship from Muspellheim that Loki steered on the way to Ragnarǫk. I wondered if the … Continue reading
Posted in books, Myth & Legend, words
Tagged Hamlet, Old English, Old Norse
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Words on the Wing
I was reading the Eddas today, which is what Tolkien would probably be doing on Re(re)ading Tolkien Day, and I was struck by a pair of birdy lines: Ǫrn mun hlakka, slítr nái niðfǫlr. —Vǫluspá (quoted in Snorri, Gylfaginning 50) … Continue reading
Posted in Myth & Legend, words
Tagged Elder Edda, Latin, Old Norse, Snorri, Vǫluspá
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The Weird of the Worm
Reading Snorri’s account of Ragnarǫkr this noon over blunch, and I was struck by this poetic phrase in Snorri’s prose: Þórr berr banaorð af Miðgarðsormi “Thor bears the baneword from Midgard’s Serpent”. Old Norse orð is cognate with English word, … Continue reading
Posted in art, books, fantasy, fantasy art, Morlock, Myth & Legend, words
Tagged Old Norse, Snorri
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Swords in the Mistletoe
I was reading Snorri’s Edda today, trying to sort out the story-differences between Snorri’s version and the poems in the Elder Edda. For instance, the famous story where Thor goes fishing and catches Jormungandir, Midgard’s Serpent, plays out differently in … Continue reading
Posted in books, language, Myth & Legend, words
Tagged Edda, Fritz Leiber, Latin, Old Norse, Snorri
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