p. 22
Auro carior (Latin): More precious than gold.
p. 22
Involucra (Latin): Bindings; wrapping.
p. 23
Professor Antiquitatum (Latin): Professor of Antiquities.
p. 24
Membranum (Latin): Parchment.
p. 24
Pretiosissima, thesaurus, cimelium (Latin): Most precious, a treasure, a jewel.
p. 24
The name
Skálda
, in Old Norse paleographical studies, is normally used for a collection of philological treatises, dating from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, that are attached as an appendix to the
Ormsbók
manuscript of the
Edda
of Snorri Sturluson (1178–1241). Two texts in Icelandic literature bear the name
Edda:
the first, the
Poetic Edda
(referred to also as the Elder or Sæmundar Edda), is a collection of mythological and heroic poems recorded in Iceland probably in the twelfth century. Snorri’s
Edda
(also referred to as the
Younger
or
Prose Edda
) uses older Eddaic poems as the foundation for a treatise on poetry consisting of three main parts:
Gylfaginning
(mythological tales),
Skáldskaparmál
(poetical arts, primarily diction), and
Háttatál
(poetic meters); the second part,
Skáldskaparmál
, is also often referred to as
Skálda.
Arnas Arnæus’s description of the
Skálda
manuscript that he finds in Jón Hreggviðsson’s house as containing the most beautiful poems in the northern hemisphere suggests that it contains specimens of Eddaic poems, although the nonspecific description suggests that this manuscript should be taken as a representative of any or all of the precious manuscripts that preserve the literature of the ancient Icelanders (and, as is suggested in the novel, the soul of the Nordic lands).
p. 25
Minutissima particula (Latin): The slightest particle.
p. 25
Sine exemplo (Latin): Unique; exceptional; phenomenal.
p. 25
Antiqui (Latin): Antiquity; days of old.
p. 25
Litteras (Latin): Literature, letters.
p. 31
Bishop Jón Arason (1484–1550) was the last Catholic bishop of Hólar (see note to pages 3 and 8 above), and a great opponent of the Lutherans. The Danes beheaded him at Skálholt on November 7, 1550.
p. 31
Þórir Steinfinnsson
jökull
(“Glacier”) was a character in
Sturlunga
saga
(thirteenth century). He received a mortal wound at the battle of Örlygsstaðir and recited a stoic verse just before he died.
p. 33
Bremerholm: Beginning in 1620, dangerous male criminals were sentenced to hard labor at the naval dockyards at Bremerholm in Copenhagen.
p. 33
Suðurnes is the name of Iceland’s southwesternmost peninsula, although in older days the name was used to indicate all of the area in the southern part of Faxaflói (including Romshvalanes, Álftanes, and Seltjarnarnes).
p. 35
A
sending
is a ghost conjured and sent by a sorcerer to an enemy; there are many examples of these in Icelandic folktales.
p. 38
Moving days (Icelandic
fardagar
): Four days at the end of May when working folk in Iceland changed abodes.
p. 38
Grótta is the westernmost tip of the Seltjarnarnes peninsula.
p. 38
Hólmur: see note for page 5.
p. 42
Egill Skallagrímsson is the eponymous hero of
Egils saga.
He is considered by many to have been the greatest Viking and poet to have lived in Iceland.
p. 43
Parce nobis domine (Latin): Spare us, O Lord.
p. 46
Bakkaship: A merchant ship that sailed to and from the trading station of Eyrarbakki in southern Iceland.
p. 48
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was beheaded February 8, 1587.
p. 56
Credo in unum Deum (Latin): I believe in one God.
p. 56
I can conjugate “amo” in most modi and tempora: I can conjugate “to love” in most moods and tenses.
p. 60
Hallgerður
langbrók
(“Long-breech”) was the wife of Gunnar of Hlíðarendi, and one of the main characters of
Njáls saga.
She was well-known for her independent-mindedness.
p. 61
Drekkingarhylur: Drowning Pool, the name of the pool in Almannagjá where women were drowned (primarily for the crimes of adultery, incest, and infanticide).
p. 62
Amo, etc. (Latin): I love, you love, he loves, we love, you (two) love, they love.
p. 63
Brynjólfur Sveinsson (1605–1675) was bishop in Skálholt. His daughter Ragnheiður had a son by a man named Daði Halldórsson, but nine months earlier the bishop had made her swear an oath that she was a virgin.
p. 65
Curae (Latin): Concerns.
p. 65
Property in Iceland was for a long time taxed by “hundreds,” a term for the value of the land, and reckoned according to an old duodecimal hundred, that is 12 x 10 = 120.
p. 71
Brennugjá: Burning Ravine, the ravine at Þingvellir where men were burned (for sorcery).
p. 72
Skyr: A unique Icelandic milk product, curdled and fermented skimmed milk.
p. 73
Illugi Gríðarfóstri (“Gríður’s Foster-son”) was a great champion who freed the troll-woman Gríður and her daughter Hildur from a spell (as told in Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra, one of the fornaldarsögur; see note to page 20 above).
p. 86
Welschland: Normandy.
p. 100
Aus Ijsland buertig (Low German): from Iceland.
p. 107
Doctus in Veteri Lingua Septentrionali (Latin): Doctor in Old Norse. Scientia mirabilium rerum (Latin): The study of marvels.
p. 108
Assessor Consistorii, Professor Philosophiae et Antiquitatum Danicarum (Latin): Assessor at the Consistory (the Danish high court), Professor of Philosophy and Danish Antiquities.
p. 108
The “mistress of the house,” Arnas Arnæus’s wife, although described in fairly grotesque terms, is based on the historical Mette Fischer, a rich widow ten years older than Árni Magnússon whom he married in 1709.
p. 108
Famulus in antiquitates (Latin): Servant in the study of antiquities. Antiquitas, antiquitates, antiquitatum, antiquitatibus (Latin): Study of antiquities.
p. 108
Spanish Jacket: A barrel-shaped device used for confining and humiliating prisoners.
p. 109
Mirabilia (Latin): Marvels; the miraculous.
p. 110
De Gigantibus Islandiae
(Latin):
Concerning Iceland’s Trolls.
p. 110
Physica Islandica
(Latin):
Icelandic Natural History
.
p. 112
The men of Hrafnista were the descendants of Ketill
hængur
(“Trout”), a famous Icelandic settler; he is described in the thirteenth-century
Landnámabók
(
Book of Settlements
) and
Egils saga.
Hálfdán
Brönufóstri
(“Brana’s Foster-son”), was a Danish prince who fled from Vikings and met the troll-woman Brana, who helped him regain his kingdom (as told in
Hálfdánar saga Brönufóstra
, another of the
fornaldarsögur
mentioned above).
p. 112
Historia Literaria
(Latin):
History of Literature.
p. 112
Bibliothèque (French): Library.
p. 123
Grímur
kögur
(“Fringe”) lived during the Age of Settlements (ninth to tenth centuries). The
Landnámabók
relates how his sons killed the chieftain Ljótur Þorgrímsson the Wise. (In the story, when Ljótur asks a man named Gestur Oddleifsson if the earth-lice, the sons of Grímur
kögur,
will cause his death, Gestur replies, “A hungry louse bites hard.”)
p. 124
Gyldenløve is Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve (1678–1719), a son of Christian V of Denmark.
p. 124
Wars fought by Sweden and Denmark at the time of this novel include the Scanian War of 1675–1679 and the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. In the latter, Russia, Denmark-Norway, and Saxony-Poland were allied against Sweden in an attempt to break Swedish supremacy in the Baltic; in 1700 the Swedes landed in Sjaelland and forced Denmark out of the war until 1709.
p. 128
Boot-Katrin: A joking reference to one of the king’s mistresses.
p. 129
Special-dollar (Danish
speciedaler
): Danish silver currency worth two rixdollars.
p. 133
Salvum conductum (Latin): Safe-conduct.
p. 137
Sigurður, a figure from ancient Germanic legend, is one of the heroes of Völsunga saga (thirteenth century) and the Völsung cycle of heroic poems in the
Poetic Edda
(see note for page 24 above). Sigurður slew the dragon Fáfnir, who guarded the Rhinegold.
p. 138
Bakki: Eyrarbakki.
p. 139
Blanda: Watered-down sour whey.
p. 140
The
Book of Seven Words:
A book of sermons,
Sjö predikanir út af
þeim sjö orðum drottins vors Jesú Kristi (Seven Sermons on the Seven Last
Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ), written by Bishop Jón Vídalín and printed at Hólar, 1716.
p. 143
Grammatica (Latin): Grammar, linguistics, philology.
p. 144
Tunga: Bræðratunga.
p. 144
Skallagrímur: Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson, the father of the famous poet and warrior Egill Skallagrímsson. Skallagrímur is described in
Egils
saga
as being a great craftsman.
p. 146
Hilarius: A reference to a drinking game and the Latin names given to the shot-glasses (Hilarius being the fourth of seven) by students in Copenhagen.
p. 150
Quod felix (Latin): What luck.
p. 151
Versificaturam (Latin): poesy.
p. 151
Vigfús’s grandmother inherits land to the value of a hundred duodecimal “hundreds” (100 x 120), probably five average-sized farms; an average-sized farm was worth twenty “hundreds” (2400).
p. 152
In Völsunga saga, Brynhildur, a valkyrie, sleeps under a spell, guarded by a wall of flame; she is freed by Sigurður.
p. 152
Tungur: Biskupstungur.
p. 156
Mary-mass: The Feast of the Annunciation, March 25.
p. 156
Cross-mass: Inventio Crucis, the feast celebrating the discovery of Christ’s cross, May 3.
p. 159
Didrik of Münden was regent in Iceland in the early sixteenth century, but was killed at Skálholt in 1539.
p. 167
Salutem (Latin): Greetings.
p. 170
In nomine domini amen salutem et officia (Latin): In the name of the Lord, amen, attesting my reverence and deference.
p. 171
Item (Latin): Furthermore.
p. 177
Giant’s ox (Icelandic jötunuxi): The Icelandic name for the rove beetle (
Creophilus maxillosus
).
p. 177
Apex perfectionis (Latin): The apex of perfection.
p. 177
Summum bonum (Latin): The highest good.
p. 178
Doctores (Latin): Authorities.
p. 178
Doctor angelicus (Latin): A reference to the philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225–74).
p. 179
In civilibus . . . in ecclesiasticis (Latin): In civil or ecclesiastical law.
p. 179
Merlin’s Prophecies
is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s (1100–1154)
History of the Kings of Britain; Tungdal’s Vision
is thought to have been composed in the mid–twelfth century by an Irish monk, Marcus, in Regensburg. This work, which was one of the most popular works of visionary or ecstatic literature in the Middle Ages, describes the torment of condemned souls and the blessed condition of the saved. It was translated into Norse in the thirteenth century.
p. 180
In casu (Latin): In court.
p. 180
Sacramentum (Latin): Sacrament.
p. 181
Spiritus mali (Latin): Evil spirit.
p. 190
Hretbyggja
in Icelandic can be translated approximately as “Storm-dwelling.”
p. 198
Lais (Old French): Ballads or short narrative poems.
p. 203
Baccalaureus (Latin): Advanced student; one holding a university degree.
p. 203
O tempora, O mores (Latin): What times, what customs.
p. 205
Plaisanterie (French): Pleasantry.
p. 206
Commissarius (Latin): Commissary.
p. 206
Pecca fortiter (Latin): Sin bravely; sin without fear.
p. 206
Status perfectionis (Latin): State of perfection.
p. 207
Naturaliter (Latin): By nature.
p. 208
Imperfectio, imperfectiones (Latin): Imperfections.
p. 208
Praeclari et illustrissimi (Latin): My excellent and illustrious (guests).
p. 209
In temporalibus . . . in spiritualibus (Latin): In the realms of the temporal and the spiritual.
p. 210
Inexorabilia (Latin): Unable to be gotten by prayer or entreaty.
p. 210
Sebaoth: A name of God (in the Old Testament).
p. 211
This verse was written by a Danish priest H. C. Stehn (1544–1610) and translated into Icelandic by Reverend Ólafur Jónsson from Sandar (1560–1627).
p. 214
Fabulae (Latin): Fables; stories.
p. 214
America terra (Latin): America.
p. 214
Hislant terra (Latin): Iceland.
p. 215
Liber Islandorum: The Book of Icelanders
(in Icelandic
Íslendingabók
), written by the priest Ari Þorgilsson (1067–1148) in the twelfth century, is a history of the church and the bishoprics in Iceland. Ari wrote a Latin version first and then an Icelandic one, in which he leaves out genealogical material and the biographies of Norse kings. The
Breviarium
Holense
was a Latin missal written for use by priests in the diocese of Hólar. For Bishop Jón Arason, see note for page 31 above. The Þorlákur referred to here is St. Þorlákur, bishop of Skálholt (1133–1193). He was proclaimed a saint by the Alþingi in 1198, and his feast-days are July 20 and December 23 (the latter is still observed in a certain way in Iceland, even after centuries of Lutheranism).