Winter Names: Winters in Icelandic Annals
Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences
For citation: Jackson, Tatjana N. Winter Names: Winters in Icelandic Annals // Graphosphaera. 2023. Vol. 3. № 1. P. 48–74. URL: http://writing.igh.ru/index.php?id=2023-3-1-48-74
DOI: 10.32608/2782-5272-2023-3-1-48-74
Abstract: This paper entitled after the lyrical poem Winter Names by the Russian poet David Samoilov, is dedicated to winters as they are recorded in the Icelandic annals. The annals get a detailed description in this publication, based on the prefaces of the annals’ editors, a few articles that deal with the annals, and the author’s own work with the material of the annals. As for the winters, they are quite often (at least once every eight years) mentioned in the annals: as cold, frosty, severe, with much or little snow, with floods and glaciers, and occasionally as good ones. From the complete list given here – 48 mentions of winters in the annals for the period from the beginning of the 11th century to 1394 – six differ greatly, as winters referred to here have personal names: these are “Winter of the Club”, “Winter of the Cross”, “Winter of Hordes”, “Winter of Miracles”, “Winter of Human Deaths”, and “Jón’s Winter”. The first four names (their origin and meaning) have been deciphered by Halfdan Koht. This paper suggests an explanation of the fifth name. And the sixth one remains a mystery that the sagas are likely to have a solution to, as five of these six names have behind them a “literary” source.
Key words: Icelandic annals, sagas, seasons, winters, personal names
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