Annett Krakow
The Smorgasbord of Scandinavian Philology, 4 (2020), 2020, pp. 183-196
This article discusses the Old Icelandic noun ormr, ‘serpent, dragon’, by analysing its use in the late medieval Yngvars saga víðfǫrla. The meaning of ormr overlaps with that of dreki ‘dragon’, and both nouns are linked to the concept of ’certain type of mythical creature’. After a brief introduction to the saga, attention is turned to episodes in which ormr and dreki are used. Of special interest are two mirroring episodes, in which a certain iakúlus appears, which is referred to as both ormr and dreki. The features mentioned for ormr, dreki and iakúlus are summarised, which serves as a prerequisite for the analysis of selected translations of the saga. The translations into Swedish and Bokmål show that ormr is rendered as orm, whereas one of the English translations uses serpent and the other dragon as translations. In contrast, in the French translation ormr is translated as both serpent and dragon.