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THE POWERS AND PURPOSES OF AN INSULAR SETTING – ON SOME MOTIFS IN OLD-NORSE LITERATURE Kristel Zilmer Introduction The narrative representation of islands in Old Norse literature was shaped by various literary and cultural layers and born out of practical and symbolic, but also deeper, cognitive purposes. It has been argued previously that such imagery can highlight traditional Nordic cultural experiences, while at the same time conducting a dialogue with a medieval European understanding on the meaning of islands.1 The analysis of examples derived from Old Norse prose and poetry has shown that, on the one hand, a pragmatic rationale exists behind certain island-related scenes in terms of mapping strategic sites along the characters’ travel routes or within the main arena of action. On the other hand, one also encounters motifs that speak of the symbolic peculiarity of the island setting – a concept that is activated when islands are depicted as sites for extraordinary events and happenings. In this paper I shall take a closer look at the latter facet of island representation – the emphasis will be laid upon depictions that connect an island setting with certain transformative (religious and magic) experiences which may affect a character in a decisive manner and, as such, carry deep significance for the portrayal of his further actions.2 Through this analysis I will also approach the broader concept of an island as 1 See Kristel Zilmer, “Scenes of Island Encounters in Icelandic Sagas: Reflections of Cultural Memory,” Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 4 (2008): 227-48; eadem, “On Some Pragmatic and Symbolic Features of Island Representation in Old Norse Literature,” in Approaching the Viking Age, ed. Ērika Sausverde and Ieva Steponavičiūtė (Scandinavistica Vilnensis 2) (Vilnius: Vilnius University Press, 2009), 197-215. Whereas the first article concentrates on saga material, the second also brings in perspectives from skaldic and eddic poetry. Concerning the motif of fictional islands, see Else Mundal’s contribution in this volume. 2 Thus, it is the more metaphorical dimension of island representation that is the point of depature here, which does not mean that other motifs would not be equally important. Indeed, as will be shown later, a KRISTEL ZILMER 24 an entity that is characterized by both isolation and interaction and in this manner provides a perfect arena for processes that bring about change. An introductory remark to make concerns the definition of an “island” in this study. Such a definition naturally has to depend upon how the sources themselves designate and depict islands, but at the same time it is necessary to take into account various contextual interpretations.3 The applied terms and naming practices can provide us with suitable guidelines; in the meantime, the task is complicated by the fact that distinctions between islands and (main)lands cannot be drawn automatically either from the linguistic or from the contextual point of view. In fact, there is an inbuilt fusion of the two in the very word “island,” in Old English īgland/īegland, since it combines the components “island” (i.e. “a thing in water”) and “land.”4 With regard to the Old Norse sources, besides the word ey, we find, for example, eyland, similarly standing for “islandland .”5 To illustrate further uncertainties in connection with experiencing a particular territory as an island or a (main)land and communicating such experiences through names, we can take a look at the case of Iceland, already in Old Norse labelled Ísland (“ice” + “land”). Thus, this name determines Iceland as a “land.” However, it is of interest to mention that one of the supposed early names of Iceland contained the element signifying an island; according to Landnámabók (The Book of Settlements), the certain fusion of symbolic and pragmatic perspectives is inevitable. For a discussion of islands as significant landmarks and navigational aids, see, for example, the articles mentioned above. 3 See, e. g., Zilmer, “Scenes of Island Encounters in Icelandic Sagas,” 231-33; cf. also the semantic analysis of the Old Norse word ey (i.e., “island”) as well as the overview of different collocations as provided by Johan Fritzner, Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog I, 2nd ed. (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1973), 354; Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson, An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), 134. 4 See more about the etymological background of the Germanic word in Jan de Vries, Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (Leiden, Boston, Cologne: Brill, 2000), 106. Similar ambiguity is visible in modern island names in several...

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