Umeå University's logo

This dissertation examines the concept of Otherness in the short medieval tales of Icelanders (Íslendingaþættir) and, to a lesser extent, in the sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), by focusing on linguistic and cultural identity markers and descriptors and their role in constructing Otherness. Literary analysis is employed to examine the developments of characters presented as Others, socioonomastics and literary onomastics are used to analyse differences between Norwegian and Icelandic personal names, and cognitive semantics is utilized to study the meanings of the adjective ódæll (meaning “difficult” or “hard to deal with”). The purpose of five discrete studies is to highlight different aspects of linguistic and narratological Otherness in the tales and sagas of Icelanders and thecomplexity and nuances that inform Otherness in the Icelandic Middle Ages.

The results show how everyday Otherness has positive, neutral and negative aspects: these highlight the changeability of Otherness within the narrative and demonstrate the function of stable identity markers and descriptors for narratives and for identity constructions. Results thus support arguments for using a broader theoretical and analytical framework of Otherness to further insights into the norms and identities of the medieval Icelandic society described in the tales and sagas of Icelanders.