“der sagata mir ze wara”: Iceland in the Merigarto

The Old High German fragment known as Merigarto contains a description of Iceland that entwines ancient literary with modern oral data. Scholars have repeatedly tried to verify the originality and reliability of the data from a historical point of view. However, the question of authenticity is also a literary one, which is posed by the author himself and solved in a way that foreshadows usages in later Latin and vernacular exempla. The most innovative literary aspect of the passage dealing with Iceland can be found in a few lines in which the poet guarantees the authenticity of Iceland’s mirab... Mehr ...