Was the great Dane Irish? That is the question
Not "O Hamlet" but O'Hamlet: Shakespeare's Prince of Denmark, according to literary research, derives his peculiar name from ancient Irish origins.
The identity of the Prince of Denmark has fascinated scholars for centuries, with disputes about the name's Jutish, Icelandic or Latin etymology jostling for academic pre-eminence.
Now Dr Lisa Collinson, a medieval Scandinavian expert at Aberdeen University, has published research which traces the unusual word to a little known Gaelic mystery tale from the dark ages.
Shakespeare is known to have borrowed the name Hamlet from a contemporary History of the Danes that had been translated into French. That version in turn was based upon Scandinavian sagas recorded by a 10th or 11th century Icelandic author known as Snow Bear; one verse even refers to a character called Amlothi.
But Collinson, whose work is published in Oxford University Press's prestigious Review of English Studies, does not abandon her detective work at the conventional explanation adopted by most Shakespearean enthusiasts....
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
The identity of the Prince of Denmark has fascinated scholars for centuries, with disputes about the name's Jutish, Icelandic or Latin etymology jostling for academic pre-eminence.
Now Dr Lisa Collinson, a medieval Scandinavian expert at Aberdeen University, has published research which traces the unusual word to a little known Gaelic mystery tale from the dark ages.
Shakespeare is known to have borrowed the name Hamlet from a contemporary History of the Danes that had been translated into French. That version in turn was based upon Scandinavian sagas recorded by a 10th or 11th century Icelandic author known as Snow Bear; one verse even refers to a character called Amlothi.
But Collinson, whose work is published in Oxford University Press's prestigious Review of English Studies, does not abandon her detective work at the conventional explanation adopted by most Shakespearean enthusiasts....