Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga)
The Icelandic chieftain Óláfr Hǫskuldsson of Laxdæla saga is the son of an enslaved Irish princess, Melkorka, yet is still judged a candidate to succeed her father as an Irish king. His choice to return to Iceland is validated by his subsequent success as a stockman and community leader. Yet he fail...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:08159108e45f41dd996f0c87a14eec96 2024-09-15T18:13:26+00:00 Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga) William Sayers 2023-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624SL.23.015.18637 https://doaj.org/article/08159108e45f41dd996f0c87a14eec96 EN eng Jagiellonian University Press https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/studia-linguistica-uic/artykul/onomastics-and-destiny-olafr-pai-hoskuldsson-and-family-laxdaela-saga https://doaj.org/toc/1897-1059 https://doaj.org/toc/2083-4624 2083-4624 1897-1059 doi:10.4467/20834624SL.23.015.18637 https://doaj.org/article/08159108e45f41dd996f0c87a14eec96 Studia Linguistica Universitatis Cracoviensis, Vol 2023, Iss 4, Pp 287-307 (2023) Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624SL.23.015.18637 2024-08-05T17:49:07Z The Icelandic chieftain Óláfr Hǫskuldsson of Laxdæla saga is the son of an enslaved Irish princess, Melkorka, yet is still judged a candidate to succeed her father as an Irish king. His choice to return to Iceland is validated by his subsequent success as a stockman and community leader. Yet he fails to recognize that the source of his prosperity and material plenty lies in his maternal inheritance, in which Melkorka (‘Smooth-Oat’) may be identified as a Celtic sovereignty figure, the source of his irrecusable election to a rich somatic life and chieftaincy, complemented by the attention of his paternal family’s tutelary spirit or fylgja. By slaughtering his totemic ox, Harri, he calls down the vengeance of the Icelandic tutelary figure representing his father’s family’s fortunes which had concurrently assured his success. Retribution follows later in the saga with the death of his favourite son, Kjartan. From the perspective of the thirteenth century, when Iceland yielded to Norwegian hegemony, the arc of Óláfr’s career is paralleled on a greater scale by Iceland’s early medieval history. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis 140 4 287 307 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 |
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Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 William Sayers Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga) |
topic_facet |
Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 |
description |
The Icelandic chieftain Óláfr Hǫskuldsson of Laxdæla saga is the son of an enslaved Irish princess, Melkorka, yet is still judged a candidate to succeed her father as an Irish king. His choice to return to Iceland is validated by his subsequent success as a stockman and community leader. Yet he fails to recognize that the source of his prosperity and material plenty lies in his maternal inheritance, in which Melkorka (‘Smooth-Oat’) may be identified as a Celtic sovereignty figure, the source of his irrecusable election to a rich somatic life and chieftaincy, complemented by the attention of his paternal family’s tutelary spirit or fylgja. By slaughtering his totemic ox, Harri, he calls down the vengeance of the Icelandic tutelary figure representing his father’s family’s fortunes which had concurrently assured his success. Retribution follows later in the saga with the death of his favourite son, Kjartan. From the perspective of the thirteenth century, when Iceland yielded to Norwegian hegemony, the arc of Óláfr’s career is paralleled on a greater scale by Iceland’s early medieval history. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
William Sayers |
author_facet |
William Sayers |
author_sort |
William Sayers |
title |
Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga) |
title_short |
Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga) |
title_full |
Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga) |
title_fullStr |
Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Onomastics and destiny: Óláfr Pái Hǫskuldsson and family (Laxdæla saga) |
title_sort |
onomastics and destiny: óláfr pái hǫskuldsson and family (laxdæla saga) |
publisher |
Jagiellonian University Press |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624SL.23.015.18637 https://doaj.org/article/08159108e45f41dd996f0c87a14eec96 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Cracoviensis, Vol 2023, Iss 4, Pp 287-307 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/studia-linguistica-uic/artykul/onomastics-and-destiny-olafr-pai-hoskuldsson-and-family-laxdaela-saga https://doaj.org/toc/1897-1059 https://doaj.org/toc/2083-4624 2083-4624 1897-1059 doi:10.4467/20834624SL.23.015.18637 https://doaj.org/article/08159108e45f41dd996f0c87a14eec96 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624SL.23.015.18637 |
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Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis |
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140 |
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4 |
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