~ Enable subtitles for the English translation!

Well guys, here we are at last! The lyrics I helped Skáld put together are finally seeing the light!
I can’t even begin to describe my happiness in finally sharing this work of mine with you all. Can’t wait for you to listen to the rest of the album too!

► All songs by SKÁLD:    • SKÁLD (Lyrics & Translations)  
► Huldufólk (album):    • SKÁLD | Huldufólk (Lyrics & Translati...  
► More videos in Old Norse:    • Old Norse  
► More Viking songs:    • Viking songs  

The lyrics of this song come partly from a poem which reports a dialogue between a she-troll and skald Bragi Boddason, and partly from Snorri’s “Skáldskaparmál” (from the Prose Edda).

Bragi’s part of the lyrics is especially complicated to translate, due to the massive number of kennings it uses: the first stanza is almost entirely made of kennings for a (she-)troll and the second of kennings for a skald.
A kenning is a stylistic device often employed in skaldic poetry, where two or more words are used in the place of a single one, often making use of poetic or popular references. e.g. the expression “Gautr’s gift” is a kenning for “(skaldic) poetry”, because Gautr (originally used by the Geats to indicate their ancestral god) is one of Odin’s several names. And since skaldic poetry is said to be a gift bestowed upon humankind by Odin, “Gautr’s gift” [read “Odin’s gift”] is poetry.
However, not all the kennings used are this clear and straightforward, and the meanings behind some of them are still debated. Special credits go to the ever-precious site Skaldic Project for the insight they gave on these lines. If you’re curious, an explanation of some of them may be available there (not all, though):
- https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=wordtextl...
- https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=verse&i=1945
For the sake of simplicity, in my translation I only reported “first level” kennings (because yes, it’s not uncommon to find two or more kennings inserted one inside the other, needing decoding on more levels), translating the rest directly with what they represent, instead of going word-by-word. e.g., in the line “Warden/woman of the grave”, the word “grave” is actually given by another kenning meaning literally “fjord of the corpse” (so, the literal meaning of that line would be “Warden/woman of the fjord of the corpse”).

I know a transcription in runes of such a text doesn’t really have any reason to be, if not as a treat, but yeah…that’s just what it is, bear with me.

Any suggestion and/or observation is warmly welcome.

Video from Skyrim, recorded by @AmbientWorlds

#FlamSparks #SKALD #TrollKallaMik #VikingsChant #VikingsMemories #SKÁLD #SkaldVikings #Norse #OldNorse #vikings #nordicmusic #nordicmythology #norsemythology #scandinavia #scandinavianfolklore #nordicfolklore #norsefolklore #norsemusic #futhark #runes #futharkrunes #rune #troll

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