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A (plural ') or (plural ) refers to a spell or incantation in
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
and
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
respectively; these were usually performed in combination with certain rites.The article ''Galder'' in ''
Nationalencyklopedin (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version. History The project was ...
'' (1992)


Etymology

and or ' are derived from the reconstructed
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
''*galdraz'', meaning a song or incantation. The terms are also related by the removal of an
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
''-tro'' suffix to the verbs and , both derived from
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
''*galaną'', meaning to sing or cast a spell. In Old High German the ' suffix produced ' instead.Hellquist, E. (1922). ''Svensk etymologisk ordbok''. C. W. K. Gleerups förlag, Lund. p. 177
/ref> The German forms were Old High German ' and Middle High German (MGH) ' "song, enchantment" ( Konrad von Ammenhausen ''Schachzabelbuch'' 167b), surviving in (obsolete or dialectal) Modern German ' (witchcraft) and ' (witch). From these terms are descended words such as the Icelandic verb ' "to sing, call out, yell", "magic" and as a component of ''
nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, ...
'' (from '), related to ', the verb ancestral to Modern English ''yell''. The words are also cognate with Dutch ' "to yell, scream".


Attestations


Old Norse

Some incantations were composed in a special meter named '. This meter was similar to the six-lined , also used for ritual, but added at least one more C-line.The article ''Galdralag'' in ''
Nationalencyklopedin (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version. History The project was ...
'' (1992)
Diverse runic inscriptions suggest informal impromptu methods. Another characteristic is a performed parallelism, see the stanza from '' Skirnismál'', below. A practical for women was one that made childbirth easier,Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sørensen 1998:72 but they were also notably used for bringing madness onto another person, whence modern Swedish ' meaning "mad", derived from the verb ''gala'' ('to sing, perform galdr'). Moreover, a master of the craft was also said to be able to raise storms, make distant ships sink, make swords blunt, make armour soft and decide victory or defeat in battles. Examples of this can be found in '' Grógaldr'' and in ''
Frithiof's Saga Frithiof's Saga () is a legendary saga from Iceland which in its present form is from ca. 1300. It is a continuation from ''The Saga of Thorstein Víkingsson'' (''Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar''). It takes place principally in Norway during the ...
''. In '' Grógaldr'',
Gróa In Norse mythology, Gróa (possibly from Old Norse "growing"Orchard (1997:63).) is a völva (seeress) and practitioner of ''seiðr''. She is the wife of Aurvandil the Bold. Groa was also the goddess of knowledge. Attestations ''Prose Edda'' ...
chants nine (a significant number in Norse mythology) to aid her son, and in '' Buslubœn'', the schemes of king Ring of
Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...
are averted.The article
galder
' in ''
Nordisk familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...
'' (1908).
It is also mentioned in several of the poems in the ''
Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...
'', and for instance in ''
Hávamál ''Hávamál'' ( ; Old Norse: ''Hávamál'',Unnormalised spelling in the Codex Regius:''Title'': hava mal''Final stanza'': Nv ero Hava mál q''ve''ðin Háva hꜹ''l''lo i ..classical pron. , Modern Icelandic pron. , ‘Words of Hávi he H ...
'', where 18 . For instance, Odin">Odin claims to know Numbers in Norse mythology">18 . For instance, Odin mastered galdrar against fire, sword edges, arrows, fetters and storms, and he could conjure up the dead and speak to them.Schön 2004:86 There are other references in ''Skírnismál'', where Skirnir uses to force Gerðr to marry Freyr as exemplified by the following stanza: A notable reference to the use of is the eddic poem '' Oddrúnargrátr'', where Borgny could not give birth before Oddrún had chanted "biting " (but they are translated as ''potent charms'', by Henry Adams Bellows below):


Old English

In
Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
, are used to protect the dragon's hoard that was buried in a barrow:


Interpretation and discussion

It was performed by both women and men. Some scholars have proposed they chanted it in ''
falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...
'' (').The article ''galder'' in Henrikson A., Törngren D. and Hansson L. (1998). ''Stora mythologiska uppslagsboken''.


See also

* Grógaldr *
Runic magic There is some evidence that, in addition to being a writing system, runes historically served purposes of magic. This is the case from the earliest epigraphic evidence of the Roman to the Germanic Iron Age, with non-linguistic inscriptions and ...
* Icelandic magical staves *
Seiðr In Old Norse, (sometimes anglicized as ''seidhr'', ''seidh'', ''seidr'', ''seithr'', ''seith'', or ''seid'') was a type of Magic (paranormal), magic which was practiced in Vikings, Norse society during the Iron Age Scandinavia, Late Scandinavian ...


Notes


Bibliography

* Schön, Ebbe. (2004). ''Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition''. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. . * Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sørensen, P. (1998): ''Människor och makter i vikingarnas värld''. . {{Norse mythology Germanic paganism Incantation Magical terms in Germanic mysticism Witchcraft in Sweden