In old Germanic culture, a galder (; ang|ġealdor, galdor, enm|galder; non|galdr; goh|galdar, German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: galstar), among other forms in old Germanic languages, refers to a spell or incantation; these were usually performed in combination with certain rites.[1]
During the Middle Ages, the term galder often became synonymous with "witchcraft" and "magic" as a whole. In Old Icelandic and Old Swedish, a word for witch was "galder woman" (Old Icelandic: galdrakona; Old Swedish: galderkona, gallirkona;), and the construction also exist in German as German: Galsterweib .
It was performed by both women and men. Some scholars have proposed they chanted it in falsetto (Norse, Old: gala).[2]
Galder essentially equates to "gale-der", or "yell-der", denoting something of galing (yelling, crying, singing). Descendants are derived from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic *galdraz, meaning a song or incantation.
The terms are also related by the removal of an Indo-European -tro suffix to the verbs non|gala and ang|galan, Modern English gale, both derived from Proto-Germanic *galaną, meaning to sing or cast a spell. In Old High German the German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: -stro suffix produced German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: galster instead.
The German forms were Old High German German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: galstar and Middle High German German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500);: galster "song, enchantment" (Konrad von Ammenhausen Schachzabelbuch 167b), surviving in (obsolete or dialectal) Modern German German: Galsterei ("witchcraft") and German: Galsterweib ("witch",).
The Modern Scandinavian word for "crazy" (da|gal, no|gal, sv|galen) is a derivative of the same root as galder, and originally referred to someone whose mind has been distorted by a spell.[3] Other related descendants of these words are, is|að gala ("to sing, call out, yell"), sv|gala ("to yell, crowing of a rooster"), the latter component of English nightingale (from English, Old (ca.450-1100);: nihtegale), related to English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ġiellan, the verb ancestral to Modern English yell, also cognate with Dutch Dutch; Flemish: gillen ("to yell, scream").
Some incantations were composed in a special meter named Norse, Old: [[galdralag]]. This meter was similar to the six-lined Norse, Old: [[ljóðaháttr]], also used for ritual, but added at least one more C-line.[4] Diverse runic inscriptions suggest informal impromptu methods. Another characteristic is a performed parallelism,[4] see the stanza from Skirnismál, below.
A practical galder for women was one that made childbirth easier,[5] but they were also notably used for bringing madness onto another person, whence modern Swedish Swedish: galen meaning "mad",[2] derived from the verb gala ('to sing, perform a galder').[3] Moreover, a master of the craft was also said to be able to raise storms, make distant ships sink, make swords blunt, make armour soft and decide victory or defeat in battles.[2] Examples of this can be found in Grógaldr and in Frithiof's Saga.[2] In Grógaldr, Gróa chants nine (a significant number in Norse mythology) galders to aid her son, and in Buslubœn, the schemes of king Ring of Östergötland are averted.[6]
It is also mentioned in several of the poems in the Poetic Edda, and for instance in Hávamál, where Odin claims to know 18 galders.[1] For instance, Odin mastered galders against fire, sword edges, arrows, fetters and storms, and he could conjure up the dead and speak to them.[7] [8] There are other references in Skírnismál,[1] where Skirnir uses galders to force Gerðr to marry Freyr[6] as exemplified by the following stanza:
A notable reference to the use of galders is the eddic poem Oddrúnargrátr, where Borgny could not give birth before Oddrún had chanted "biting galders"[5] (but they are translated as potent charms, by Henry Adams Bellows below):
In Beowulf, English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ġealdru are used to protect the dragon's hoard that was buried in a barrow:
During the Viking Age, there exist finds of galders written in runes, so-called runic galders (sv|rungalder), in addition to other forms of runic magic. Runic galders are found, among other things, written down on (Swedish: runstickor), or on (Swedish: runbleck), such as the one on the 12th century (Vg 216).[9]
The Högstena runic galder roughly goes:
Runic Swedish | Translation: |
In Medieval Sweden, a drawn or written spell or incantation was called a "galder letter" (Old Swedish: galdra breff, sv|galdrabrev, roughly "written spell"). Such, intended to make the holder invulnerable, could be worn as an amulet (for example around the neck) and was called a "sword letter" (Old Swedish: swärdhbref, sv|svärdsbrev; Old Danish: sværdbrev; gml|swertbref).[11]
This type of signed galder was later banned. An excerpt from the manuscript Själens tröst (Old Swedish: Sjælinna Thrøst), written around 1430, says the following:
Old Swedish: | Translation: |
See main article: Icelandic magical staves. There exist records from the 16th century of Icelandic Medieval magic sigils called "galder staves" (is|galdrastafir, roughly "incantation staves"), today commonly referred to as Icelandic magical staves in English. Such are popular with neopagans and New Age folk.
Famous examples includes the Ægishjálmur and Vegvísir.
