crazy/insane gradation

[Robin Hamilton]

>>It partly correlates with the ON term, "berserker".
>
> It depends on which one you're talking about. "Berserkr" in the
> skaldic poetry is an elite retainer/warrior who forms the closest --
> and most trusted - circle of defense around the prince (see
> Haraldskvaedi/Hrafnmal); in the sagas they are "bad guys" who are
> crazy in a bad way.

I was thinking mostly of the sagas, and the later ones at that, rather than
the Edda.

Neither of my favourite Old Norse hard men -- Skarphathr or Egil -- were
strictly speaking berserkers, were they?

(PS -- have you seen, and if so what do you think of it, the five-volume set
of English translations that came out a year or so ago?)

> See Simek's Dictionary of Northern Mythology for more on the various
> versions of "berserkers."
>
> ---Amy West

Thanks Amy.

                :-(((

Robin  (feeling faintly amuk the noo)

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