Seiðr

Meaning of Old Norse word "seiðr"

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

seiðr

m., gen. seiðar, dat. seiði; the fem. seið sina (sinn), FmS. ii. 136, and seiðit, FaS. iii. 319, are false forms:—a spell, charm, enchantment, incantation, which in the heathen times was solemnly performed at night; the wizards or witches were seated with certain solemn rites on a scaffold (seiðhjallr), from which they chanted their spells and songs; the ‘seidr’ was performed either to work any kind of good or evil to another person, or to be a kind of oracle or fortune-telling, to foreshow future events, such as the life and fate of those present, the weather, or the like; of the evil kind is the charm in Gísl. l. c., Ld. 152; fá at seið, Hkr. i. 21; Ingjaldr ok völvan ætluðu til seiðar mikils um nóttina, FaS. ii. 507; Freyja kenndi fyrst með Ásum seið, 8; fremja seið, Þorf. Karl. 376; efla seið, Eg. 403, FaS. ii. 72; magna seið, Gísl. 116; konungr bað hann hætta seiði, FmS. i. 10: hón bað fá sér konur er kunnu fræði þat sem til seiðsins þarf, Þorf. Karl. 378; var þangat at heyra íll læti er þeir frömdu seiðinn (seiðit Ed. wrongly), FaS. iii. 319: seiðis-hús, the house where the spell was worked. FaS. iii. 166, v. l.; in Yngl. S. ch. 7 the charm of ‘seidr’ is attributed to Odin; Óðinn kunni þá íþrótt, er mestr máttr fylgdi, ok framði sjálfr, er seiðr heitir, en af því mátti hann vita örlög manna ok úorðna hluti, svá ok at göra mönnum bana eðr úhamingju eða vanheilindi, svá ok at taka frá mönnum vit eðr afl ok gefa öðrum, en þessi fjölkyngi, er framið er, fylgir svá mikil ergi, at eigi þótti karlmönnum skammlaust við at fara, ok var gyðjunum kennd sú íþrótt, Yngl. S. ch. 7; as to the rites and ceremonies of the ‘seidr’ see esp. the interesting account in Þorf. Karl. S. ch. 3, compared with that in Vd. ch. 10 and Örvar Odds S. ch. 2 and 3; even the old poem Völuspá is framed as a song delivered by a prophetess working a spell. The witch scene in Macbeth is an echo of the ancient ‘seidr’ as it survived in tradition in Shakespeare’s time, though the devilry and the cauldron are later additionS.

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

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