This work presents an outline of the Old Norse vocabulary associated with magic and its practicioners. The research is focused on the individual words’ evaluative aspect and on their function within the texts, as well as on the narrative roles of magic as a literary motif and as a cultural concept. The literary motif of magic plays a significant role as a narrative device that enables the construction of multiple layers of meaning in the texts. The cultural concept of magic contributes to the conceptualization of various social and psychological aspects, such as the transformations of political power, gender roles, the transgression of norms, irrational impulses, and diverse forms of otherness.

Lucie Korecká (Department of Germanic studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague) focuses on the research of cultural conceps in Old Norse texts and Nordic folklore. She has published a monograph on the crossing of boundaries in the post-classical sagas of Icelanders and Icelandic folktales, as well as articles on the transformations of attitudes to fate and morality in the medieval North and on the motif of magic in the Faroese ballads. She translates Old Norse, Icelandic, and Faroese texts into the Czech language.

This useful and well-thought-out study will be of value to every reader of medieval Icelandic literature.