- Gamli gnævaðarskáld
Gamli gnævaðarskáld was an
Iceland icskald .One half-stanza from a poem about
Thor dealing with the god's fight againstJörmungandr and one fragment from a poem about an unidentifiable king are all that survive of his work. They were preserved inSnorri Sturluson 's "Skáldskaparmál " (4, 64).It is often stated that Gamli lived in the 10th century but Rudolf Simek and Hermann Pálsson consider this "pure speculation" [Simek, Rudolf. Hermann Pálsson. "Lexikon der altnordischen Literatur: die mittelalterliche Literatur Norwegens und Islands". Stuttgart: Kröner, 2007. ISBN 9783520490025.] .
The meaning of Gamli's nickname is unclear. He may have composed a poem about a person whose nickname was Gnævaðar ("raised high", "towering") [Faulkes, Anthony (ed.). "Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Skáldskaparmál". Vol. 2, "Glossary and Index of Names". London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1998. ISBN 0-903521-38-5.] . Rudolf Simek and Hermann Pálsson suggest that "Gnævaðar" may apply to Gamli himself. The nickname should thus be understood as "the outstanding skald" ["Der herausragende Skalde". Simek, Pálsson, "op. cit."] .
Notes
External links
* [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/ggn.html Gamli's poetry in the original language.]
* [http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/hymir/gahym.html Translation of the poem about Thor, with notes.]
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