What is Love? Exploring Emotion in Old Norse Culture

“（你会非常爱她）。这句来自贡劳格斯佐贺奥姆斯通古的话预言了父亲对未出生女儿的父爱。Egils佐贺，指出[_] var elskr at Agli（[Thord] was loved by Egil），指的是男孩之间的兄弟之爱。动词elska和unna都被翻译为“爱”，但在中世纪冰岛传奇中没有区分爱的类型，使得爱的意义和价值变得不微妙。我的项目旨在通过古挪威传奇中的相关词汇和表达来探索中世纪冰岛人对爱的理解和文化价值。许多古挪威语单词翻译为爱。把它们归为同一个“爱”是不恰当的。通过对词汇和语境的严格研究，我希望揭示冰岛人通过词汇感知对爱情的文化欣赏。的确，古希腊有四个爱的词：agape，神圣的爱; philia，柏拉图式的爱; eros，浪漫的爱; storge，家庭之爱。这将是一个开创性的论文，因为它将是第一个全面的学术项目，迄今为止，在一个单一的情绪在古诺尔斯语。该项目的重要性源于情绪研究的整体需求在古诺尔斯语-研究已经增加，但仍然缺乏深入调查单一的情绪。因此，我选择了爱，因为它还没有在基础层面上被研究过。重要的是，学者们在没有首先研究古挪威语术语的情况下，不要使用现代的“爱”。这个项目将提供一个基础，从进一步的研究可以进行，接地在古挪威语的概念的研究。为此，我的项目提出了以下关键问题：古挪威人是如何理解爱的？在什么情况下使用古挪威语的爱的话，他们有什么不同？肢体动作是否与这些词语反复联系在一起？爱的形式有等级之分吗？爱与其他情感放在哪里？中世纪的冰岛人是如何看待爱情的？虽然有限，但以前对佐贺爱情的研究包括玛丽安·卡林克对浪漫史的研究，以及大卫·克拉克对同性恋的研究。先前研究的主要焦点是宫廷爱情、婚姻或同性恋--每一种本质上都是爱欲。在对传奇人物的情感研究中，也存在着大量的语言使用缺乏原创性的问题。Sif Rikhardsdottir在她最近的书中呼吁通过语言来看待情感。这个项目的回应是关注中世纪冰岛爱情的原始语言和历史背景。这些传奇故事就像是进入中世纪冰岛的透镜;尽管佐贺事件可能是非历史的，但情感可能反映了创造传奇故事的社会。如果没有这种反思，文本将是不相关的和无法理解的观众。它们也不是精英产品，因为宅基地是一个公共空间，所以佐贺阅读很可能是公共的。为了辨别传奇故事中爱情的细微差别，我将采用词汇研究的方法，从威廉·伊恩·米勒那里汲取灵感，找出社会的细微差别来阐明爱情术语。透过厘清文字与语境，观察其文化价值，主要来源是传奇本身，以散文为主。我将探索所有的佐贺子类型，从biskupasögur（主教故事）到fornaldarsögur（神话化的历史），以发现爱情和类型之间是否存在相关性。其中一个可能的关联可能是biskupasögur对上帝的爱。只有通过分析上下文和词汇才能发现这种联系。这项研究希望激发人们对情感史和古挪威语研究的更大兴趣，并强调将关键概念与其语言学根源联系起来的重要性，因为仅仅替换现代意义可能会导致时代错误和理解不佳。此外，通过对古诺尔斯人情感的更好理解，本文可以丰富现代对古诺尔斯人的看法，并与欧洲大陆展开新的对话。"

" (you shall love her greatly). This sentence from Gunnlaugs saga Ormstungu fortells the parental love of a father for his unborn daughter. Egils saga, states that [_____] var elskr at Agli ([Thord] was loved by Egil), referring to brotherly love between boys. The verbs elska and unna are both translated as 'to love' but not differentiating between types of love in medieval Icelandic sagas leaves the meanings and value of love unnuanced.My project seeks to explore the medieval Icelandic understanding and cultural value of love via its related words and expressions in Old Norse sagas. Many Old Norse words translate as love. It is presumptuous to group them as the same 'love'. Through a rigorous study of words and contexts, I wish to unveil the Icelanders' cultural appreciation of love through their lexical perceptions. Indeed, Ancient Greek has four love-words: agape, godly love; philia, platonic love; eros, romantic love; storge, familial love. This will be a pioneering thesis, as it will be the first full-scale scholarly project, to date, on a single emotion in Old Norse.The project's importance stems from the overall need for emotion studies in Old Norse - studies have increased but there remains a lack of thorough inquiries into single emotions. Thus, I chose love for it has not been studied on a foundational level. It is important that scholars do not apply modern 'love', without having first explored the Old Norse terms. This project will provide a basis from which further studies can proceed, grounding the research in Old Norse concepts. To this end, my project asks the following key questions: How did the Old Norse peoples understand love? In what contexts are Old Norse words for love used and how do they differ? Are physical gestures repeatedly linked to these words? Is there a hierarchy of the forms of love? Where does love place with other emotions? How is love valued by medieval Icelanders?Although limited, previous studies on saga love include Marianne Kalinke's work on romances, and David Clark's research on homosexuality. The primary focus in previous studies is courtly love, marriage, or homosexuality - each of which is intrinsically eros. There is also a shortage of original language use in many emotion studies of sagas. In her recent book, Sif Rikhardsdottir calls for emotions to be viewed via language. This project responds to this in focusing on the original language and historical context of medieval Icelandic love.The sagas act as a lens into medieval Iceland; although saga events may be ahistorical, the emotions likely mirrored the society creating the sagas. Without such reflections, the texts would be unrelatable and incomprehensible to audiences. They are also not elitist products, for the homestead was a communal space and so saga reading was likely communal. To discern the nuances of love in the sagas, I will use a word-studies approach, taking inspiration from William Ian Miller, to draw out societal nuances to elucidate love-terms. Through clarifying the words and their contexts, I will observe their cultural value.My primary sources will be the sagas themselves, with a focus on prose. I will explore all saga sub-genres, from biskupasögur (bishop tales) to fornaldarsögur (mythologised history), to discover whether there is correlation between the love and the genre. One such possible correlation could be of a love for God in the biskupasögur. Only through analysing both contexts and words can such links be discovered.This research hopes to inspire greater interest in the History of Emotions and Old Norse studies, and highlight the importance of relating key concepts to their philological roots, as merely substituting a modern meaning can lead to anachronisms and poor understandings. Also, with a greater appreciation of Old Norse emotions, this thesis can enrich modern perceptions of Old Norse peoples and open new dialogues with the continent."