Thyle
Most literary references are found in Icelandic and Old English literature like the Hávamál, where the term Fimbulþulr, "the great thyle", presumably refers to Odin himself,[1] and Beowulf. In Gautreks saga, Starkad is referred to as a þulr after he sacrifices a king.[2] The word also appears on the runic inscription of the Snoldelev Stone.[3] Frederiksberg's original name was Tulehøj ("Thyle Hill").
The Old English term is glossed as Latin histrio "orator" and curra "jester"; þylcræft means "elocution". Zoëga's Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic defines þulr as "wise-man, sage," cognate to Old Norse þula (verb) "to speak" and þula (noun) "list in poetic form". The Rundata project translates þulr as "reciter". From this it appears that the office of thyle was connected to the keeping and reproducing of orally transmitted lore like the Rígsþula, "Lay of Rígr".
Some modern scholars view the role of the thyle as being usurped by monks after Christianization, and being reduced to the modern caricature of the jester (hence the Latin gloss of curra).
See also
References
- ISBN 0-903521-19-9, verse 80 and note, p. 114.
- ^ JSTOR 2887155.
- ^ "Snoldelev-sten" at Danske Runeindskrifter, National Museum of Denmark, retrieved September 21, 2017 (in Danish).
- JSTOR 2852453.
- ISBN 0-87023-352-1, note 22, pp. 215–16.