[Ansteorra] Sources for learning about trolls

[C. L. Ward]

Ulrica said:
>Gunnora, Can you pass along some references for
>those of us who enjoy such things?  I would like
>to read more about your trolls.

Ulrica, you *would* make go and have to figure out where all the sources
came from that I synthesized that data out of, wouldn't you? (grin)

I by no means have 'em all here, but here's a few to begin with.

A good place to start is with the word itself:

Troll [Danish & Swedish trold, Low German droll modern Danish drollen]
A giant, fiend, demon.  A generic term. The heathen creed knew of no "devil"
but the troll.  In Modern Danish trold includes any ghosts, goblins, imps
and puny spirits, whereas the Old Icelandic troll conveys the notion of huge
creatures, giants, Titans, mostly in an evil, but also in a good sense.

Phrases:
* troll er þik bíta eigi járn (troll whom no steel can wound)
* at vekja troll upp ("to wake a troll", meaning to raise a ghost)
* troll milli húss ok heima ("a troll between house and home" with exactly
the kind of sense as the English saying "between the Devil and the deep blue
sea")
* glápa eins og troll á himna-ríki ("to gaze like a troll on the heavens",
i.e., to gape in amazement)

Found frequently in curses or interjections meaning "may the trolls take
you!", such as:

tröll hafi þik!
tröll hafi þína vini! (Njáls saga)
tröll hafi þik allan! (Kormaks saga)
tröll taki hann!
fara í trölla hendr! (Laxdaela saga)

"Trolls and giants were the old dwellers on the earth, whom the gods drove
out and extirpated, replacing them by man, yet a few ramained haunting
lonely places in wildernesses and mountains; these trolls, if they meet with
a good turn from man, are said to remain thankful for ever, and shew their
gratitude; hence the phrases, tryggr sem tröll, faithful as a troll; and
trygða-tröll, hann er trygða-tröll, a faithful soul or a faithful person;
trölla-trygð 'trolls-trust,' faithfulness to death; troll eru í trygðum bezt
is a saying; these milder notions chiefly apply to giantesses (troll-konur)
for the troll-carles are seldom well spoken of; for trolls and giants as the
older dwellers on earth, seee the interesting tale in Ólafs saga
Tryggvassonar vy Odd, ch. 55, 56."

All the above is from:

Cleasby, Richard and Guðbrandr Vigfusson. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
2nd. ed. Oxford: Clarendon. 1957. s.v. troll p. 641.

Probably one of the most comprehensive discussions available in English,
including excellent comparative evidence from other Germanic peoples and
folklore, comes from:

Grimm, Jakob.  Teutonic Mythology. 4 vols. trans. S. Stallybrass. 1875;
reprint new York: Dover. 1966. Also available online at:
http://www.midhnottsol.org/lore/grimmst/index.html

Yes, this is one of the "Brothers Grimm" and a well-respectred folklorist.
Grimm makes it very clear that the concepts and folklore of the troll
overlap that of the elves, dwarves, giants, and a wide range of other
beasts.  There isn't any one section devoted just to the troll - you have to
read through several chapters, with various other mentions here and there,
see especially:

17 - Wights and Elves
18 - Giants
33 - Devil
34 - Magic

Many of the Icelandic sagas mention trolls.  Grettis saga (The Saga of
Grettir the Outlaw) ch. 65 has a whole story about an encounter with a
troll-woman.  See:

Hight, G. H., trans. (1914) Grettir's Saga Online. Online Medieval and
Classical Library (OMACL). June 1995.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Grettir/

Right off the top of my head I can't think of where to tell you to look in
the sagas for trolls, but they're all over the place.

For an extensive Icelandic collection of tröll-sögur (Troll-Sagas) see:
http://www.snerpa.is/net/thjod/troll.htm

Some other good sources:

Christiansen, Reidar, ed. Folktales of Norway. Pat S. Iversen, trans.
University of Chicago Press. 1968. Available from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226105105/thevikinganswerl

Kvideland, Reimund & Henning K. Sehmsdorf, eds. Scandinavian Folk Belief and
Legend. University of Minnesota Press. 1991. Available from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0816619670/thevikinganswerl

And a couple in English online I found:

Virtually Virtual Iceland Troll Page
http://www.simnet.is/gardarj/mapa/karlar.htm

Primrun Troll Page
http://www.primrun.is/english/trolls/Trolls_introduction.htm

::GUNNORA::