The Vinland Sagas (Vinlandingasogur) : Text, Literal Translation, and Word List

The Vinland Sagas (Vinlandingasogur) offer a fascinating glimpse into a period of exploration and discovery in the Norse world and beyond, the political and social circumstances that necessitated it, and the changes in society brought about by it.

The Saga of the Greenlanders (Grœnlendinga Saga) and The Saga of Erik the Red (Eiriks Saga Rauða) were written in a very concise and matter-of-fact style, in a language that could arguably be described as succinct.

They survived for several hundred years through a culture of oral tradition before being written down in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The Sagas are fascinating stories containing accounts of events, occasionally blended with fanciful and mythological creation.

They are also important social documents containing information on the genealogies of the characters involved, tracing their lineage back to the original families who first settled in Iceland, and further in some cases.

These stories entertained but also reminded the people of Iceland where they came from and who they were.

They were not a nation of outlaws and outcasts. They were a nation of proud landowners, farmers, hunters, craftsmen, traders, and explorers, from good and noble families, and the stories that they kept alive proved it.

This book contains the original texts of The Saga of the Greenlanders (Grœnlendinga Saga), and both versions of The Saga of Erik the Red (Eiriks Saga Rauða) with parallel literal word-for-word translations.

This second edition includes an expanded word list with over 6,300 definitions.

Literal translations show you how the language works, literally, word by word.