(Part 2) Top products from r/Norse

I'm no expert in Medieval or Old-Norse studies, however I've do have an interest in it & from some searching on various different aspects of the Vikings I come across these:

The Cambridge History of Scandinavia: Volume 1. Prehistory to 1520 it's a anthological survey book consisting of both historiographical and hagiographical (biographies of saints) primary & secondary sources ranging from prehistory ( before historical events were documented) through to medieval history of Scandinavia. It's quite pricey but definitely worth the money if your serious...

>The first part of the volume surveys the prehistoric and historic Scandinavian landscape and its natural resources, and tells how man took possession of this landscape, adapting culturally to changing natural conditions and developing various types of community throughout the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. The rest - and most substantial part of the volume - deals with the history of Scandinavia from the Viking Age to the end of the Scandinavian Middle Ages (c. 1520). The external Viking expansion opened Scandinavia to European influence to a hitherto unknown degree. A Christian church organisation was established, the first towns came into being, and the unification of the three medieval kingdoms of Scandinavia began, coinciding with the formation of the unique Icelandic 'Free State'.

The History of Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark,Finland and Iceland) is similar to Cambridge History yet significantly cheaper

The Viking World by Stefan Brink & Neil Price is a mid-range anthological book compromising of many articles from various scholars.

>I would really appreciate material that covers linguistics.....philology, morphology and the like
As for the other categories, I would really appreciate some introductory material on archaeology.

This book will probably be the best one for you because it includes all of the above.

Myth and Religion of the North: the Religion Ancient Scandinavia this book is a good overview of the different mythologies before the christianisation of the nordics.

Women in the Viking Age is a good book on the niche subject area of Women roles within the viking age nordics & its various colonies (from Greenland to Russia). Jesch uses various pieces of evidence from archaeological finds, runic inscriptions, historical records & Old Norse literature.

I would also recommend you look into the Icelandic sagas & Eddas. I'd use SagaDB because there are many various different icelandic sagas & in a variety of languages including English, Icelandic & Old Norse. If you'd like to go about learning O.N. you check the Viking Society for Northern Research or check out the books: A New Introduction to Old Norse: I Grammar: 1 or Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas

If you're interested at all in the presence of the Vikings (and later scandinavians) in Eastern Europe check out Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe

Hopefully this helps if you have any more specific questions don't be afraid to ask :)

As other people have said, read the sources themselves. Neil Gaiman is good but he doesn't get as good as the original! Caroline Larrington's translation of the Poetic Edda is quite cool: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poetic-Edda-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199675341/ref=dp_ob_title_bk Here is a good translation of the Prose Edda with commentary: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prose-Edda-Mythology-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140447555/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=AK4RMWSXZRA97ZZRP1WH

Just to make it clear, "The Prose Edda" and "The Poetic Edda" are very different texts from Medieval Iceland, which both happened to be called Eddas later because of a literary tradition. The Poetic Edda is a collection of short narrative poems on mythological and heroic subjects - these poems have no known authorship, and were likely written over a few centuries and then collected on one manuscript. The Prose Edda is basically a summary of Old Norse mythology written by an Icelandic bloke called Snorri Sturluson, about whom you will be hearing a lot further on. An amazing storyteller, Snorri did more or less what Neil Gaiman did, that is, wrote a book outlining the most important mythological stories - but he did so for 13th century audience, which makes for a more complex and more fascinating read.

If you are more interested in narratives about heroes like Ragnar loðblók, there are numerous Old Norse sagas to read. If you are interested in mythology more that with history, I recommend Saga of King Hrolf Kraki and Saga of the Volsungs to start with. They go heavy on Odin, dragons, berserkir, armies of living dead etc. Penguin has really good annotated editions of these sagas (both translated by Jesse Byock).

The best FREE online source (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/)

The most important works on the subject are the EDDAS, the poetic and prose and your collection cannot be called complete without them (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Prose-Edda-Mythology-Classics-ebook/dp/B002RI9HRU/ref=pd_sim_kinc_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=0M032MEETG0CVXAT539W) (http://www.amazon.ca/Poetic-Edda-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-ebook/dp/B00LKGBK1Q/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CGS5F6Q2WWB3HR2DKFR)

Sagas of the Icelanders is a pretty comprehensive book and an easier than scholarly text read (http://www.amazon.ca/Sagas-Icelanders-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0141000031/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947217&sr=1-1&keywords=sagas+of+the+icelanders)

A great historical (a little mythology) view of the Vikings in John Clements the Vikings (http://www.amazon.ca/Brief-History-Vikings-Jonathan-Clements-ebook/dp/B00AJN9KHC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947425&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=the+vikings+john+clements)

A great dictionary/listing of Viking myths can be found in Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth & Legend (http://www.amazon.ca/Cassells-Dictionary-Norse-Myth-Legend/dp/0304363855/ref=sr_1_cc_8?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947500&sr=1-8-catcorr&keywords=dictionary+of+norse+myths+and+legend)

A great source for the kings of Norway and their (mis)adventuires would be the Heimskringla but there isn't as much mythology in there, more historical (http://www.amazon.ca/Heimskringla-History-Norway-Snorri-Sturluson/dp/0292730616/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425947617&sr=1-1&keywords=heimskringla)

There's a bunch of other sagas you may want to sink your teeth into: Njal's, Grettir's, etc... If you want to listen about some Viking sagas via podcast, I'd recommend Saga thing, both entertaining and informative (https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/)

Bellows' translation annoys me because of the forced archaic language. However, it's totally free. Can't argue with free.

Hollander is better than Bellows, I think. However, his is a bit more "academic" than most - meaning it's somewhat dry.

Ursula Dronke's version is supposed to be an exemplary academic work, but it's extremely difficult (and expensive) to get. Never laid my hands on it personally.

Larrington is less academically accurate, but does a good job of capturing the "feel" of the poems while also trying to adhere to the poetics. Not great if you want an intense academic study, but pretty accessible overall.

But my favorite translation right now is Patricia Terry's. She has edited and removed chunks that she thinks don't really belong with the stories, rendering this one virtually useless from a standpoint of strict academics. However, where she has succeeded is in making the stories interesting and accessible to a modern audience.

As a skaldic performer, I value a person's attempt to create that "bridge" between the audience and the material. Is it accurate? No. Then again, no single translator is "correct" anyhow - we have to extrapolate and fill in constantly. All translation involves some amount of getting a "sense" for certain phrasing, and different translators will make different choices for different reasons.

I use Terry when I want to consider how to re-word a stanza or section to make it more accessible. More often than not, I consult multiple translations in conjunction with the original text to come to my own decision about the meaning of a given passage.

So, really, there's no definitive translation, and it really depends on your purpose. Hollander can serve as your sort of multi-purpose translation, but if you're primarily interested in the lore, Terry or Larrington might be more your speed.

There's húsabœr or staðr. Both can mean "farmstead" or "farm" but húsabœr gives the connotation of the buildings that make up the farm or the dwellings for people/animals while staðr is closer to the English "-stead", meaning more of the land/location. Its also used widely to mean "place" or "spot."

There's also bú which means "farming" (like the action or business of farming) or "household" but is used for a lot of other things as well.

If you wanted to be a bit dramatic with the river bluff feature, you could use nes, which is "headland". So, for example, in Landnámabók, there's a "Herjólfsnes", which is the land taken by a man named Herjolf. I've seen a lot of personal names incorporated into geographical terms to make place names. So if your name was Aaron, say, you could then have "Aaronsnes" or "Aaron's Headland."

Edit: You could also do the same with staðr, so: "Aaronsstaðr".

You can look at Zoëga's dictionary to see more details on the terms.

In modern Icelandic, I found býli or kot (for a small cottage farm). See here and here.

Good luck and congrats on getting a farm!

Here are the books I started with that have been very helpful...

I did not start with the Eddas, I started with this book...

[The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland](
http://www.amazon.com/Norse-Myths-Pantheon-Folklore-Library/dp/0394748468)

It is a modern launguage retelling of the Lore in an easier to follow format. I read this book first so I have an understanding of the specific myth then I dive into the Eddas.

I also purchased a few Asatru specific books that give an overview of the Gods and Goddesses, give a brief history lesson, and discuss some of the rituals of Asatru like Blots, holidays, toasts, ect.

Essential Asatru: Walking the Path of Norse Paganism

A Practical Heathens Guide to Asatru

and

Heathenry: A Study of Asatru in the Modern World This one I have not read yet so I have no idea how good it is.

I also purchased The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology

I have a really hard time reading the Eddas since I have always had a hard time with that type of poetry so I have only purchased the one Edda and I am slowly making my way through it. There are a few different Eddas out there so read reviews of them on Amazon before buying to see what everyone is saying about it.

I didnt do this with the Asatru Edda and after I bought it found out they tend to fill in holes in the myths with their own assumptions. Im not educated enough to give examples but most of the reviews mention it. I was advised not to read that version until I become more familiar with the Lore as it was written first. Also, this book is as physically large as a school text book. It is soft cover but very awkward to hold and read.

Good luck. I am very much a beginner but have found the above resources helpful.

books that i have read that you may enjoy.
"The Children of Odin"

"Myths of the Norsemen"

"The Poetic Edda"

"The Younger Edda"

also the AFA has some great recommendations on the Website

Enjoy! :)

Ok well I tried harder and I found a few on amazon, I'll share links in case someone else has trouble and googles something like the name of this thread.

Egil's saga in monolingual old norse

A series of dual language sagas I have one of these, It's ok but I should mention that while it's dual-lingual, the languages are not parallel. the Norse version is in the back. Another thing is that some of them are actually modern Icelandic, though that shouldn't make a huge difference because the language used is still archaic, just with updated spellings (og vs ok, hestur vs hestr)

Here's a good one, The poetic Edda in parallel text old-Norse and English That's the version I have and I think it's a really nice, high quality volume, but one thing I should mention is it's a scan of an older edition. Personally I don't mind that, I actually think it's kind of cool, but if that idea bugs you maybe check out this version which I don't have so I can't speak for the quality of it but it seems to be newly printed instead of scanned.

I haven't read any of these personally, but I googled "books on the viking influence in Britain" so here are some books on amazon. These are ordered from most similar to your request to less similar.

https://www.amazon.com/Vikings-Britain-Henry-Loyn/dp/0631187111

https://www.amazon.com/Vikings-Britain-Ireland-Jayne-Carroll/dp/0714128317

https://www.amazon.com/Norman-Conquest-Hastings-Anglo-Saxon-England/dp/1605986518/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Good luck! I think I speak for all of us when I say that we would like to read your finished product!

I had the same problem. As AsaTJ said if you want a physical copy of the poetic edda (the best resourse there is on norse myth) Amazon has it. I'd also recommend "The Penguin Book of Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland". It gives a lot of history and references as well as the myths themselves. It's great for getting an idea of the times and context.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Book-Norse-Myths-Vikings/dp/0241982073/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1551201265&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=kevin+crossley+holland&dpPl=1&dpID=511WNN7nAwL&ref=plSrch I don't know where you are but you can get it on Amazon's UK store 😊

There's a lot of information online about making horns. I've written a very short e-book about it (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NSX1C71 if you want to check it out) but the main steps are boiling, cleaning, sanding with finer and finer grit paper, then polishing with steel wool (ask for 0000 steel wool). I don't use anything inside the horns I make, I just spend a lot of time cleaning them. Feels awesome to drink mead from a horn! :D

If you want the actual mythology, or whatever survives from it, then Neil Gaiman is not the way to go. He doesn't speak Old Norse, he's not a scholar in the field. His retelling is basically just fanfic.

Carolyne Larington's translation of the Poetic Edda is a good one to start with

This sub has a reading list as well, if you get through that one

I am also not sure about post-marriage hair fashion, but here's two pretty decent books on clothing from that era.

http://www.amazon.com/Woven-into-Earth-Textile-Greenland/dp/8772889357/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1405025542&sr=8-6&keywords=greenland+clothing

http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Clothing-Thor-Ewing/dp/0752435876/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

Are these 2 good sources?

https://www.amazon.com/Prose-Edda-Tales-Mythology-Editions/dp/0486451518/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525074361&sr=1-3-spell

And

https://www.amazon.com/Heimskringla-Perfect-Library-Snorri-Sturluson/dp/1512237922/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525074361&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=Edda+and+Heimskringl

Yep, it's Broa style. Not exactly a symbol. but more a decoration.

As for examples, this book

Viking Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive)

by A. G. Smith

​

has a few examples, but the drawing is not good sometimes. I could try scanning them for you. Jonas Lau Markussen has some cleaner examples in his downloadable pdf and instagram.

Start with the prose Edda this copy specifically https://www.amazon.com/dp/053095401X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_e.VYDbFJH25PD

Tales of the Norse Warrior Gods

That's odd figuring his is a prose translation. I'll have to look up the Penguin version you mention!

Edit: this one?