Talk:The Waking of Angantyr

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The article refers to Angantyr as a "ghost" -- as do most translations of the saga. In the original Old Norse source Hervor refers to Angantyr and his brothers as draugar, which is also translated as "ghost" (being etymologically related to draumr, dream, phantom). But draugr pl. draugar seems to have shifted in meaning from that origin, and more commonly to refer to corporeal undead. (See the Viking Answer Lady's page linked from draugr, and the HR Ellis "Road to Hel" reference on that page.) In that case, the translation "ghost", implying an incorporeal being, might be a distortion of the what was originally intended to be understood by it.

Since Angantyr is lying on the sword, Tyrfing, until he gives it to Hervor, we could read this act of giving as having been quite literal rather than representing a ghost allowing a woman to move its corpse and pick up the sword... Osric 16:10, 13 August 2006 (UTC)