The Icelandic term

(pl.

) carries various meanings. Derived from the Old French

, it initially referred to an unexpected event or love affair. Historically, the term was used to describe late medieval and post-medieval prose narratives with legendary and chivalric content, as well as medieval

. While in contemporary Icelandic the word

can mean

in general, it primarily denotes the category of folktales commonly known as

or

. This modern usage was first established in the nineteenth century by Jón Árnason (1819–1899), a librarian and collector of folktales and legends (Árnason 1954–1961, II, 297). In this article, the term

will be used exclusively to refer to wonder tales.

Around 1700,

3674 words

Citation: Werth, Romina. "Icelandic Wonder Tale (Ævintýri)". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 July 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19683, accessed 18 October 2024.]