Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend

by Andy Orchard

The Scandanavian imagination inspires our culture in hundreds of ways, from our words for days and months to customs common in most of our holidays to popular phenomena such as Harry Potter and the Tolkien legends. The entire cast of gods and trolls, heroes and monsters, lands and beliefs, receives a comprehensive survey in more than 1,000 entries, photos, charts, and quotations. Many entries draw upon recent archaeological discoveries which shed new light on ancient rituals and peoples, in many cases providing evidence that the even the most fanciful tales turn out to contain a core of factual history.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Research, Folklore

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Andrew Philip McDowell "Andy" Orchard, FRSC, FBA is a British academic in Old English, Norse and Celtic literature. He is Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.

Reviews

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thorough and informative. I skimmed it for the entries I needed and photocopied those (since ILL'd this).

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought it was a bokk of legends it's just a dictionary. lol should have read the back.

[N.L. Riviezzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

While chalk full of information about Norse Mythology, I found the layout of information with the entries to be a little hard to read. Also difficult to look up things specially certain names of beings as the names were often different from the usual or had additional text with them putting them into a different alphabetical category. A large portion of the entries referred to another writer rather than providing actual information about said being then citing the other writer/work.

[Hengest · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic resource for when you need to look up some fact or other. Contains much of what is known about various aspects of Norse myth.

[Hengest · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic resource for when you need to look up some fact or other. Contains much of what is known about various aspects of Norse myth.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding dictionary of names, places, and etc. associated with Norse and Germanic myth. There are also appendices with lists of names for giants, dwarves, and Odin.