A Norse, Old: galdr (plural Norse, Old: galdrar) or English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ġealdor (plural English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ġealdru) refers to a spell or incantation in Old Norse and Old English respectively; these were usually performed in combination with certain rites.[1]
Norse, Old: [[wikt:gealdor#Old Norse|galdr]] and English, Old (ca.450-1100);: [[wikt:gealdor#Old English|ġealdor]] or English, Old (ca.450-1100);: [[wikt:galdor#Old English|galdor]] are derived from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic *galdraz, meaning a song or incantation.[2] [3] The terms are also related by the removal of an Indo-European -tro suffix to the verbs Norse, Old: gala and English, Old (ca.450-1100);: galan, both derived from Proto-Germanic *galaną, meaning to sing or cast a spell.[4] [5] In Old High German the German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: -stro suffix produced German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: galster instead.[6]
The German forms were Old High German German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: galstar and Middle High German (MGH) German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500);: galster "song, enchantment" (Konrad von Ammenhausen Schachzabelbuch 167b), surviving in (obsolete or dialectal) Modern German German: Galsterei (witchcraft) and German: Galsterweib (witch).
From these terms are descended words such as the Icelandic verb Icelandic: að gala "to sing, call out, yell", English, Middle (1100-1500);: galder "magic" and as a component of nightingale (from English, Old (ca.450-1100);: nihtegale), related to English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ġiellan, the verb ancestral to Modern English yell.[7] [8] The words are also cognate with Dutch Dutch; Flemish: gillen "to yell, scream".
Some incantations were composed in a special meter named Norse, Old: [[galdralag]]. This meter was similar to the six-lined Norse, Old: [[ljóðaháttr]], also used for ritual, but added at least one more C-line.[9] Diverse runic inscriptions suggest informal impromptu methods. Another characteristic is a performed parallelism,[9] see the stanza from Skirnismál, below.
A practical Norse, Old: galdr for women was one that made childbirth easier,[10] but they were also notably used for bringing madness onto another person, whence modern Swedish Swedish: galen meaning "mad", derived from the verb gala ('to sing, perform galdr').[11] 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. In Grógaldr, Gróa chants nine (a significant number in Norse mythology) Norse, Old: galdrar to aid her son, and in Buslubœn, the schemes of king Ring of Östergötland are averted.[12]
It is also mentioned in several of the poems in the Poetic Edda, and for instance in Hávamál, where Odin claims to know 18 Norse, Old: galdrar.[1] For instance, Odin mastered galdrar against fire, sword edges, arrows, fetters and storms, and he could conjure up the dead and speak to them.[13] [14] There are other references in Skírnismál,[1] where Skirnir uses Norse, Old: galdrar to force Gerðr to marry Freyr[12] as exemplified by the following stanza:
A notable reference to the use of Norse, Old: galdrar is the eddic poem Oddrúnargrátr, where Borgny could not give birth before Oddrún had chanted "biting Norse, Old: galdrar"[10] (but they are translated as potent charms, by Henry Adams Bellows below):
In Beowulf, English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ġealdru are used to protect the dragon's hoard that was buried in a barrow:
It was performed by both women and men.[10] Some scholars have proposed they chanted it in falsetto (Norse, Old: gala).[10] [15]