(no subject)
Apr. 5th, 2013 08:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreSo, I went with Eyrbyggja Saga.
The thing about Icelandic sagas is that sometimes, random people show up in passing or in genealogies who have awesome nicknames and because they are just people in passing or in genealogies, I never get to know how they got that nickname. Eyvind the Plagiarist remains my favorite example, but today I came across Thorolf Bladderbald and I really want to know how that name came about*.
Also, I love how matter of fact sagas are about some things. A whole bunch of people are settling in Iceland right now and the saga tells us about some of them and then the saga writer goes, "There is no need to record the settlement of people not in this saga." Which is certainly true. 8)
*I am never quite certain whether I want to know the story behind Ivar Horseprick or whether it's funnier to just make up explanations for that particular nickname on my own.
The thing about Icelandic sagas is that sometimes, random people show up in passing or in genealogies who have awesome nicknames and because they are just people in passing or in genealogies, I never get to know how they got that nickname. Eyvind the Plagiarist remains my favorite example, but today I came across Thorolf Bladderbald and I really want to know how that name came about*.
Also, I love how matter of fact sagas are about some things. A whole bunch of people are settling in Iceland right now and the saga tells us about some of them and then the saga writer goes, "There is no need to record the settlement of people not in this saga." Which is certainly true. 8)
*I am never quite certain whether I want to know the story behind Ivar Horseprick or whether it's funnier to just make up explanations for that particular nickname on my own.
