Drápa

Meaning of Old Norse word "drápa"

As defined by the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary:

Old Norse word drápa can mean:drápa

drápa

u, f. a heroic, laudatory poem; this word is probably derived from drepa, to strike, i. e. to strike the chords of an instrument, vide drepa A. I, as poems were at early times accompanied by instrumental music: the drápas were usually composed in the so-called ‘drótt-kvætt’ metre, q. v., and were much in fashion from the 10th to the 12th or even to the 13th century, but esp. flourished at the end of the 10th and during the 11th; the earliest poems of this kind on record are of the end of the 9th century: even poems in honour of gods, Christ, the holy cross, saints, etc. are called drápur if composed in the proper metre; but most of them are in honour of kings, earls, princes, or eminent men, vide Skáldatal. A drápa usually consisted of three parts, upp-haf introduction, stef or stefjamál the burden or middle part interpolated with artificial burdens, whence the name stefja-drápa, and lastly slæmr or peroration; according to the length, a drápa is tvítug or a poem of twenty stanzas, sextug or sixty stanzas, and so on; it is called erfi-drápa if in praise of a deceased man, mansöngs-drápa (Germ. minne-sang) if addressed to a lady-love, etc.; as to metre, we have tog-drápa, hrynhend drápa, etc.; drápa is sometimes distinguished from flokkr, a less laudatory and shorter poem without burdens, FmS. vi. 391; hví ortir þú flokk um konunginn, eðr þótti þér hann ekki drápunnar verðr, Ísl. ii. 237, and the classical passage Knytl. S. ch. 19. Passages in the Sagas referring to the delivery of these poems are very numerous, e. g. Gunnl. S. ch. 7–9, Eg. ch. 62, 63 (Höfuð-lausn), 80 (Sonatorek and Arinbjarnar-d.), 81 (Beru-drápa), Ld. ch. 29 (Hús-drápa), Hallfr. S. ch. 6, II, Bjarn. 6, 39, FmS. iii. 65, v. 173–175, Knytl. S. l. c., O. H. l. ch. 60, 61, Har. S. Harð. (FmS. vi.) ch. 24, 66, 110 (the interesting story of Stuf the Blind), Skáldat. 252, 268, Fb. iii. 241, 242, Hkr. i. 185, 186; the last on record is Sturl. iii. 303–306, referring to A. D. 1263, cp. also Sturl. ii. 56; most of these poems derive their name from the king or person in whose honour they were composed, e. g. Ólafs-d., Knúts-d. (king Canute), Eiríks-d., etc., vide FmS. xii, S. v. kvæði, or Jómsvíkinga-d., Íslendinga-d., the name of a laudatory poem addressed to the Icelandic people; or referring to other subjects, as Vell-ekla (want of gold), Hafgerðinga-d., Landn. 106, or Kross-d., Róða-d. (the Holy Rood), etc. Mythical drápas are, e. g. Ragnars-d., Haustlöng, Hús-d.

drápa

COMPDS: drápumál, drápustúfr.

Possible runic inscription in Younger Futhark:ᛏᚱᛅᛒᛅ
Younger Futhark runes were used from 8th to 12th centuries in Scandinavia and their overseas settlements