Sagnagrunnur is a database containing information on those folk legends that have been printed in Iceland’s main collections of folk tales. Work on the database began in 1999, and was led and organized by Terry Gunnell, then lecturer in Folkloristics at the University of Iceland, and involved students in a course on Icelandic legends (and other interested parties) reading through the main collections of Icelandic folktales and recording information about the various legends contained in them, including summaries of stories, key words, and information on the volume containing them, on place names mentioned in them, and other information regarding the names, and homes of collectors and storytellers. Those working on the database were also encouraged to note whether the legends in question echoed legends or beliefs known in neightbouring countries.
The project is still continuing and developing. The most recent development (made by Trausti Dagsson, MA in Practical Folkloristics at the University of Iceland) involves the visual mapping of the legends, and the depiction of all of those places mentioned in the Sagnagrunnur. This new development allows us to compare the distribution of legends on the basis of place, key word and collector. The aim is make the Sagnagrunnur a powerful research tool for research concerning the lives, narratives, beliefs, worldviews and language of the Icelanders of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Legend Classification
The legends are gradually being classified in accordance with the following classification ystems: ML (Migratory Legends: Reidar Christiansen); MI (Motif Index: Stith Thompson); TMI (Types and Motif Index of Finnish Belief Legends: Jauhiainen); TSFL (The Types of the Swedish Folk Legend: af Klintberg); MLSIT (Migratory Legends: Suggested Irish Types: Almqvist); F (Scottish Fairy Legends: Bruford and MacDonald); and W (Scottish Witch Legends).
Special Icelandic legend types and motifs not known elsewhere (to the best of our knowledge) have been classed as IML (Icelandic Migratory Legends). A numbered system has yet to be decided.
Collections
Material recorded in the database includes the following:
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Arngrímur Fr. Bjarnasson. Vestfirzkar þjóðsögur I-III (Ísafjörður 1909; Reykjavík, 1954; 1959) (Recorders: Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir; Oddný Magnúsdóttir; Anna Thorlacius)
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Einar Guðmundsson, Íslenskar þjóðsögur I-IV (Reykjavík, 1932) (Recorders: Freyja Hlíðkvist Ómardóttir;Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir; Þordís Edda Guðjónsdóttir)
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Guðni Jónsson Íslenskir sagnaþættir og þjóðsögur I-XII (Recorders: Bryndís Reynisdóttir; Júlíana Magnúsdóttir)
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Hannes Þorsteinsson, Jón Þorkelsson, Ólafur Davíðsson, Pálmi Pálsson and Valdimar Ásmundsson, Huld (2nd edition) I (Reykjavík,1935) (1st edition 1890-98 (Recorders: Júlíana Magnúsdóttir; Freyja Hlíðkvist Ómardóttir)
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Helgi Guðmundsson, Vestfirzkar sagnir, I (Reykjavík, 1933-1937), III (Reykjavík, 1946) (Recorders: Hrefna Bjartmarsdóttir; Oddný Magnúsdóttir; Sigrún Lilja Einarsdóttir)
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Ingólfur Jónsson, Þjóðlegar sagnir og ævintýri (Hafnarfjörður, 1974), I-II (Recorder: Anna Thorlacius)
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Jón Árnason, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og ævintýri (Reykjavík, 1954-1961), I-VI (Recorders: Anna Thorlacius; Júlíana Magnúsdóttir; Kristinn Schram; Katla Kjartansdóttir; Kristín Einarsdóttir; Rakel Pálsdóttir; Terry Gunnell; Þordís Edda Guðjónsdóttir; Valgerður Guðmundsóttir)
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Jón Thorarensen (ed.) Rauðskinna hin nýrri (Reykjavík, 1929-1962), I-II (Recorders: Sigrún Guðnadóttir; Sigríður Bjarnadóttir; Júlíana Magnúsdóttir)
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Jón Þorláksson, Þjóðsögur og munnmæli (New edition: Reykjavík, 1956) (Recorder: Valgerður Guðmundsdóttir)
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Magnús Bjarnason, Þjóðsagnakver (Reykjavík, 1950) (Recorder: Anna Thorlacius)
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Ólafur Davíðsson, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur (new edition: Reykjavík 1987), I-IV; new edition ed. Þorsteinn M. Jónsson and Jónas Rafnar (Recorder: Þordís Edda Guðjónsdóttir)
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Oddur Björnsson, Þjóðtrú og þjóðsagnir (new edition: Akureyri, 1977) (Recorders: Bryndís Reynisdóttir; Dagný Indríðadóttir; Júlíana Magnúsdóttir)
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Sigfús Sigfússon, Íslenskar þjóðsögur og sagnir, new edition, ed. Óskar Halldórsson et all (Reykjavík, 1982-1993), I-IX (Recorders: Sigrún Kristjánsdóttir; Björk Bjarnadóttir; Hrefna Bjartmarsdóttir; Elsa Gísladóttir; Bryndís Reynisdóttir)
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Sigurður Nordal and Þórbergur Þórðarson, Gráskinna hin meiri (Reykjavík 1962), I-II (Recorders: Þordís Edda Guðjónsdóttir; Bryndís Reynisdóttir; Júlíana Magnúsdóttir)
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Torfhildur Holm 1962. Þjóðsögur og sagnir (Reykjavík, 1962) (Recorders: Sigríður Bjarnadóttir; Valgerður Guðmundsdóttir; Helga Einarsdóttir; Júlíana Magnúsdóttir; Freyja Hlíðkvist Ómardóttir; Þordís Edda Guðjónsdóttir)
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Þorsteinn Erlingsson, Þjóðsögur Þorsteins Erlingsonar (Reykjavík, 1954) (Recorder: Bryndís Reynisdóttir)
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Þorsteinn Jónsson, Gríma hin nýja (1964-1965), I-X (Recorder: Helga Einardóttir; Oddný Magnúsdóttir)
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Þ. Ragnar Jónasson, Siglfirskar þjóðsögur og sagnir (Reykjavík, 1996) (Recorder: Anna Thorlacius)
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Þórður Tómasson, Eyfellskar sagnir (Reykjavík, 1948-1951), I-III (Recorder: Anna Thorlacius)
Recorders and Advisers
Anna Thorlacius; Björk Bjarnadóttir; Prof. Bo Almqvist; Bryndís Reynisdóttir; Dagný Indríðadóttir; Elsa Gísladóttir; Freyja Hlíðkvist Ómarsdóttir; Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir; Helga Einarsdóttir; Hrefna Bjartmarsdóttir; Júlíana Magnúsdóttir; Katla Kjartansdóttir; Kristín Einarsdóttir; Kristinn Schram; Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir; Sigrún Lilja Einarsdóttir; Oddný Magnúsdóttir; Rakel Pálsdóttir; Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir; Sigríður Bjarnadóttir; Sigrún Guðnadóttir; Sigrún Kristjánsdóttir; Terry Gunnell; Valgerður Guðmundsdóttir; Þordís Edda Guðjónsdóttir.