Brynhildr of the Ballads

Saskia Cowan

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractpeer-review

Abstract

The Faroese ballad Brynhildar táttur makes up the second part of the Sjúrðar kvæði, which consists of
three ballads (Regin smiður, Brynhildar táttur and Høgna táttur) that together tell a variant of the
legend of Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer (the Old Norse-Icelandic Sigurðr fáfnisbani, the Middle High
German Siegfried, known in Faroese as Sjúrður). However, despite the popularity of Brynhildr (Old
Norse-Icelandic Brynhildr and Middle High German Brünhild) in the field of Old Norse-Icelandic and
Middle High German studies, the Faroese material – first recorded in the 17th century – has rarely
been included as a point of study. This is in part due to the Faroese material having been regarded as
of lesser quality or derivative of the Old Norse-Icelandic and Middle High German materials, and
therefore not of interest. This presentation is the beginning of a potential PhD project with the aim
of dispelling such notions, and to fill the gap in scholarly literature by analyzing the Faroese character
Brynhildr and juxtaposing her to her European analogues.

Conference

ConferenceThe 16th Bergen International
Postgraduate Symposium in Old
Norse Studies 2025
Country/TerritoryNorway
CityBergen
Period7/04/2510/04/25
Internet address

Keywords

  • Brynhildar táttur
  • Faroese ballads
  • Sjúrðarkvæði
  • The Ballads of Sjúrður

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