Icelandic Wonder Tale (Ævintýri)

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Romina Werth (University of Iceland)
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The Icelandic term

ævintýri

(pl.

ævintýri

) carries various meanings. Derived from the Old French

aventure

, 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

exempla

. While in contemporary Icelandic the word

ævintýri

can mean

adventure

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

fairy tales

or

wonder tales

. 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

ævintýri

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 31 October 2024.]

19683 Icelandic Wonder Tale (Ævintýri) 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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