Darraðaljóð sung in Old Norse in Orkney 200 years ago?
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:13 am
According to this webpage: http://www.scotsites.co.uk/ebooks/sagatimechapter3.htm the Old Norse skaldic poem Darraðaljóð (or The Javelin-Song), was sung in Old Norse in North Ronaldsay (Orkney) until the middle of the eighteenth century.
Could it be, that it was actually sung in the Orkney Norn language rather than Old Norse?
Darraðaljóð is found in chapter 157 of Njáls saga. The song consists of 11 stanzas, and within it twelve valkyries weave and choose who is to be slain at the Battle of Clontarf (fought outside Dublin in 1014 CE).
Two Old Norse versions of the poem: http://www3.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/darrd.html
Here is maybe a better English translation of it: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/valkyrie.shtml
This poem is an obvious candidate to be translated into Orkney Nynorn, at some point !!
Anyone who has any information about this Norse song from Orkney??
Could it be, that it was actually sung in the Orkney Norn language rather than Old Norse?
Darraðaljóð is found in chapter 157 of Njáls saga. The song consists of 11 stanzas, and within it twelve valkyries weave and choose who is to be slain at the Battle of Clontarf (fought outside Dublin in 1014 CE).
Two Old Norse versions of the poem: http://www3.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/darrd.html
Here is maybe a better English translation of it: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/valkyrie.shtml
This poem is an obvious candidate to be translated into Orkney Nynorn, at some point !!
Anyone who has any information about this Norse song from Orkney??