Sigrgarðs saga frækna: A normalised text, translation, and introduction

ABSTRACT: This article provides the first complete translation into English of the fifteenth-century Icelandic romance Sigrgarðs saga frækna [the saga of Sigrgarðr the Valiant], along with a normalised edition of the earliest manuscripts based on that of Agnete Loth. The introduction shows that the saga artfully combines material from both the learned tradition of romances and exempla, and from traditional wonder-tales, showing an unusual warmth towards low-status genres and characters. It argues that the setting of the story articulates Icelandic identity by associating it with the otherworldly setting of the heroes’ climactic quest, and studies the constructions of gender implicit in the saga. While clearly heteronormative and potentially patriarchal in its ideological commitments, the saga probes and arguably destabilises the patriarchal culture of late medieval Iceland

Heart failure among elderly Icelanders: Incidence, prevalence, underlying diseases and long-term survival

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked FilesInngangur: Hjartabilun er bæði algengur og alvarlegur sjúkdómur sem leggst fyrst og fremst á eldra fólk. Skipta má hjartabilun í tvær megingerðir, hjartabilun með minnkað útstreymisbrot (HFrEF) og hjartabilun með varðveitt útstreymisbrot (HFpEF). Markmið þessarar rannsóknar var að kanna algengi, nýgengi, undirliggjandi sjúkdóma og lífshorfur beggja gerða hjartabilunar meðal eldri Íslendinga. Efniviðurog aðferðir: Rannsóknarhópurinn samanstóð af 5706 þátttakendum Öldrunarrannsóknar Hjartaverndar. Sjúkdómsgreiningar byggðust á gögnum úr sjúkraskrám Landspítala og voru sannreyndar á grundvelli fyrirfram ákveðinna skilmerkja Öldrunarrannsóknarinnar. Upplýsingar um undirliggjandi sjúkdóma og útstreymisbrot voru einnig fengnar úr sjúkraskrám Landspítala. Nýgengi var reiknað út frá sjúkdómsgreiningum þeirra þátttakenda sem greindust með hjartabilun eftir að þátttaka þeirra í Öldrunarrannsókninni hófst og fram til 28.2.2010. Algengi hjartabilunar var hins vegar reiknað út frá þátttakendum sem greinst höfðu með hjartabilun fyrir upphaf Öldrunarrannsóknar. Langtímalifun hjartabilunarsjúklinga er lýst með aðferð Kaplan-Meier. Niðurstöður: Algengi hjartabilunar mældist 3,6% miðað við árið 2004 og var það marktækt hærra hjá körlum en konum (p<0,001). Nýgengið mældist 16,2 tilvik á 1000 mannár og var það marktækt hærra hjá körlum en konum (p<0,001). Nýgengi HFrEF mælidst 6,1 tilvik á 1000 mannár og reyndist það einnig marktækt hærra hjá körlum en konum (p<0,001). Nýgengi HFpEF mældist 6,8 tilvik á 1000 mannár, en ekki var marktækur kynjamunur (p=0,62). Fimm ára lifun hjartabilunarsjúklinga reyndist vera 32,5% en ekki var tölfræðilega marktækur munur á hlutfallslegri lifun kynjanna (p=0,46). Þá var ekki tölfræðilega marktækur munur á lifun einstaklinga með HFpEF og HFrEF (p=0,52). Umræða: Algengi og nýgengi hjartabilunar er hátt meðal aldraðra á Íslandi og eykst í takt við hækkandi aldur. Karlar fá frekar hjartabilun en konur og að auki greinast þeir frekar með HFrEF en konur greinast frekar með HFpEF. Hjartabilun er alvarlegt sjúkdómsástand sem hefur mikil áhrif á lífshorfur.Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a common and a serious condition that predominantly affects elderly people. On the basis of the left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) it can be divided into HF with reduced or preserved ejection fraction (HFrEF and HFpEF, respectively). The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence and incidence of HF among elderly Icelanders, explore underlying diseases and estimate the effect of HF on overall survival. Material and methods: Included were 5706 participants of the AGES study. The hospital records of those diagnosed with HF before entry into AGES were used to calculate prevalence and the records of those diagnosed from entry into AGES until 28.2.2010 were used to calculate incidence. All cases of HF were verified according to predetermined criteria for diagnosis. Information on underlying diseases and EF of HF patients were obtained from hospital records. Survival was estimated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Results: Lifetime prevalence of HF was 3.6% as of 2004, higher among men than women (p<0,001). The incidence was 16.2 cases per 1000 person-years, higher among men than among women (p<0,001). The incidence of HFrEF was 6.1 per 1000 person-years also higher among men than women (p<0,001). The incidence of HFpEF was 6.8 per 1000 person-years and there was no statistical difference between the sexes (p=0.62). The age adjusted 5-year survival rate of HF-patients was 32.5%, there was no statistical difference in relative survival between men and women (p=0.46). There was no statistical difference between the survival of patients with HFrEF and those with HFpEF (p=0.52). Conclusion: Both prevalence and incidence of HF are high among elderly Icelanders, increasing sharply with age and 5-year survival rate is only around 30%. While men are more likely to develop HF, especially HFrEF, women are more likely to be diagnosed with HFpEF

Sigurðar saga fóts (The Saga of Sigurðr Foot): A Translation

This is the first English translation of the short Icelandic romance Sigurðar saga fóts, with an introduction presenting the evidence for its dating and immediate literary context. Like most Icelandic romances, Sigurðar saga is a bridal-quest story; the support of a foster-brother is key to the hero winning the bride; and the foster-brothers start out as opponents before recognising their mutual excellence and swearing foster-brotherhood. Uniquely, however, the men who become foster-brothers begin by competing for the same bride (Signý): the eponymous Sigurðr fótr wins Signý only because Ásmundr gives her to him in exchange for foster-brotherhood. Ásmundr’s decision can be read as demonstrating with unusual starkness the superior importance in much Icelandic romance of homosocial relationships over heterosexual ones, giving the saga a certain paradigmatic status. Translating the saga in an open-access forum and reconstructing its literary context will, we hope, encourage further analyses

Sigurðar saga fóts (The Saga of Sigurðr Foot): A Translation

This is the first English translation of the short Icelandic romance Sigurðar saga fóts, with an introduction presenting the evidence for its dating and immediate literary context. Like most Icelandic romances, Sigurðar saga is a bridal-quest story; the support of a foster-brother is key to the hero winning the bride; and the foster-brothers start out as opponents before recognising their mutual excellence and swearing foster-brotherhood. Uniquely, however, the men who become foster-brothers begin by competing for the same bride (Signý): the eponymous Sigurðr fótr wins Signý only because Ásmundr gives her to him in exchange for foster-brotherhood. Ásmundr’s decision can be read as demonstrating with unusual starkness the superior importance in much Icelandic romance of homosocial relationships over heterosexual ones, giving the saga a certain paradigmatic status. Translating the saga in an open-access forum and reconstructing its literary context will, we hope, encourage further analyses

Runic and Skaldic Evidence of Palatal r in West Norse

Runic evidence shows that the phonemes r and palatal ʀ merged at an early date in West Norse. I argue here that skaldic poetry also comprises valid evidence of this merger and that there is no reason to believe that r and ʀ should have rhymed until the two phonemes had actually coalesced. All the poets of the Viking Age whose verse consists of at least eighty rhymed lines show examples of rhyme between r and ʀ, except Bragi Boddason, whose poetry, traditionally dated to the 800s, is the most archaic to be preserved. There are, on the other hand, five examples of r and ʀ rhyming with each other in the poem Haustlǫng by Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, traditionally dated to c. 900. These admittedly sparse data would date the merger of r and ʀ to the late 800s. This is essentially the same dating shown by the runic evidence, which is also quite meagre. The linking of runic and skaldic chronology can be shown to strengthen both.https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-401047</p

Gunnarsslagur og Valagaldur Kráku. Eddukvæði frá 18. öld

Í þessari ritgerð er fjallað um tvö kvæði frá 18. öld sem ort eru í stíl eddukvæða og varðveitt eru í eddukvæðahandritum; Gunnarsslag og Valagaldur Kráku. Bæði eru kvæðin gefin út í ritgerðinni. Sá texti Gunnarsslags sem hér er prentaður er mun upprunalegri en þeir sem áður hafa birst á prenti. Valagaldur Kráku hefur hins vegar ekki áður verið gefinn út. Sýnt er fram á að Gunnarsslagur sé ortur síðsumars 1745 og viðtökur hans raktar upp frá því. Sérstaklega er fjallað um umræðu fræðimanna um kvæðið frá 1818, þegar það var fyrst prentað, og fram til 1867, þegar óyggjandi rök komu fram um að það væri eftir Gunnar Pálsson (1714–1791), prest í Hjarðarholti. Kvæðið er borið saman við Ossíanskviðu James Macphersons sem er frá svipuðum tíma en fleira reynist ólíkt en líkt með kvæðunum. Ekki hefur áður verið fjallað um Valagaldur Kráku á prenti. Efni kvæðisins er að tveir valir fylgjast með samræðum Ragnars loðbrókar við Eystein konung í Svíþjóð. Ragnar trúlofast þar Ingibjörgu Eysteinsdóttur en er áður kvæntur Áslaugu sem þá nefnist Kráka. Fuglarnir fljúga síðan til Áslaugar og vekja hana til að segja henni tíðindin. Hér er sýnt fram á að Valagaldur Kráku sé að öllum líkindum eftir Árna Böðvarsson á Ökrum (1713–1776). Skýringar eru fundnar á skáldamáli kvæðisins, oft með tilvísun til Laufás-Eddu. Sýnt er fram á hvernig sagan um Kráku og fuglana hefur þróast frá elsta handriti Völsunga sögu og fram til þess að Árni tekur að yrkja. Að lokum er í stuttu máli fjallað um Njörva jötuns kviðu sem einnig er varðveitt í edduhandritum og er trúlega einnig eftir Árna Böðvarsson. Þar er ort út af Snorra-Eddu og Ynglinga sögu en miklu bætt við frá hendi skáldsins

The Fox as a Dying Hero: An Edition and Translation of the Late Medieval Icelandic Poem Skaufalabálkur

The late-medieval Icelandic poem Skaufalabálkur describes the final hunting trip of an old fox in a style mimicking heroic epic. The work is traditionally connected with poets working at or near Skarð in Western-Iceland in the 15th century and we argue here that the language of the poem is consistent with that dating. This new edition presents a text of the poem based on the oldest manuscript with some advances in the reading and interpretation of certain words. The translation aims to accurately transmit the poem’s rich vocabulary pertaining to the life of foxes and medieval farming in the subarctic and to accessibly convey a satiric gem to a modern audience.Le poème islandais de la fin du Moyen Âge Skaufalabálkur décrit la dernière chasse d'un vieux renard dans un style imitant l'épopée héroïque. L'œuvre est traditionnellement liée à des poètes travaillant à Skarð ou dans ses environs, dans l'ouest de l'Islande, au XVe siècle, et nous soutenons ici que la langue du poème est cohérente avec cette datation. Cette nouvelle édition présente un texte du poème basé sur le plus ancien manuscrit, avec quelques avancées dans la lecture et l'interprétation de certains mots. La traduction vise à transmettre avec précision le riche vocabulaire du poème relatif à la vie des renards et à l'agriculture médiévale dans le subarctique, et à transmettre de manière accessible un joyau satirique à un public moderne

The Last Eddas on Vellum

The last Edda manuscripts written on vellum were created in the seventeenth century. One was an attractive manuscript of Eddic poetry commissioned by Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson. The manuscript was lost in the fire of 1728 but we attempt to reconstruct its contents. It turns out that all extant early copies of the Eddic Poems are derived from the same lost archetype. This archetype contained an inexact copy of the Codex Regius of the Eddic Poems, supplemented with material from at least six other sources. We argue that this lost archetype is prob­a­bly identical with Brynjólfur Sveinsson’s lost vellum manuscript. The other vellum manuscript discussed here is the extant Codex Sparfven­feldianus, an attractive mid-seventeenth-century manuscript of the Prose Edda, based principally on the Codex Regius of the Prose Edda but supplemented with other sources. The manuscript has been linked with Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason but we argue that this connection lacks any firm basis. A connection to Bishop Brynjólfur is much more likely. The two manuscripts required significant scholarly resources and reflect a sophis­ti­cated editorial conception of the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. Modern edi­tions of these works have much in common with these seventeenth-century creations

McSnack and the Manic Munchkins

Þetta er lokaskýrsla verkefnisins en hún er ein af 7 skjölum, sem skilað var vegna verkefnisins. Þau er hægt að nálgast á CD-diski á bókasafni Háskólans í ReykjavíkMcSnack and the Manic Munchkins er þrívíddar tölvuleikur sem kennir krökkum mikilvægi hollrar næringar og reglulegrar hreyfingar