: Baldr and the Mistletoe
Scandinavian myths tell us that the death of the shining god Baldr was the beginning of the collapse of the world. Nearly all the circumstances in the murder of Baldr are unclear, but the oddest of them is the mistletoe, the plant with which he was killed. The lecture explores the development of the myth and try to account for the appearance of the fateful plantin the conspiracy that cost Baldr his life.
: The Truth about Berserks
Little is known about the semi-mythical Scandinavian warriors and about the name they bore (berserks). Berserks (plunderers and brigands) are prominent in the sagas, but the sagas were written down long after the original berserks had been forgotten. The lecture separates the fictional chaff from the historical grain in the history of berserks.
: Icelandic Words Recorded Late
The basic vocabulary of Old Icelandic has been preserved remarkably well until today. Yet hundreds of words surfaced in Modern Icelandic late. Unlike such late appearances in English or German, the additions to the vocabulary of Modern Icelandic, unless they are borrowings, have cognates in the other Scandinavian languages, and this circumstance suggests their old age. The gap between these wordsʼ first attestations and probable antiquity poses great difficulties for language historians. They are at the center of the lecture.