“Thoughts on the Notion of Labour in Medieval Iceland”

BARREIRO, SANTIAGO

Leeds

Seminario; IMS Research Seminars 2021-2022; 2021

Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds

This presentation aims to discuss the historical semantics of the words for work in Old Norse, in particular in comparison with the vocabulary of other medieval Germanic languages and with Latin/Romance vocabulary. Moreover, it discusses the way rural labour and craft are represented in Medieval Icelandic literature and aims to explain the somewhat unusual presence of references to labour and labouring people in connection with the social structures and literary modes prevailing in Medieval Iceland.