Townend, Matthew. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse

• Author: Townend, Matthew
• Title:
• Published in: English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse
• Series: English Place-Name Society Extra Series 1
• Place, Publisher: Nottingham: English Place-Name Society
• Year: 1998
• Pages: 1-115
• E-text:
• Reference: Townend, Matthew. English Place-Names in Skaldic Verse: English Place-Name Society Extra Series 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1998.

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• Key words: place-names, Skaldic poetry, poetry

Annotation

This monograph focuses solely on English place-names that were presumably passed through verbal contact and into skaldic verse, which would have been later written down in Iceland. Townend attempts to circumvent sagas in this study because he is trying to focus solely on the spoken word rather than the written, which survives in the ancient skaldic poetry. The best examples of place names come from the poets known to have travelled to England, such as Sigvtar or the skalds at the court of Knútur inn ríki. Townend places the death of Þórólf, Egill’s brother, in England rather than Russia, challenging the long-standing work of Alistair Campbell, breaking down just how certain places- names could have mutated through Old Norse translations.

References

Chapter 55: Vínu nær: It is widely agreed that this battle [Vínheiðr] should be identified with the Battle of Brunanburh in 937; what is disputed, however, is whether the name Vínheiðr preserves an English name behind it—to be specific, whether it represents a Norse form of the name preserved as We(o)dune is Symeon of Durham.” (p. 88)

Links

• Written by: Zachary Melton
• Icelandic/English translation: