Skald kalla mik 'they call me skald'asserted the ninth-century Norwegian Bragi Boddason,
when challenged by a troll-woman to identify himself ({Bragi Troll III}). Bragi is thought to
have been the first skaldic poet whose work has survived. What would he have meant by the
term skald? And what do modern scholars mean? The English adjective 'skaldic'(or 'scaldic')
is a modern term, though the noun skald (later skáld)'poet'is medieval, as is the noun
skáldskapr 'poetry'. However, there is no Old Norse word corresponding to the adjective …