SKÁLD | Norðrljós (Lyrics & Translation)

[@The_Mitri]

for those of us who actually are trying to learn this language, and also enjoy the songs, i am very greatful and happy you did an english meaning and translation keep it up, they are literally one of my favorite bands

[@FlamSparks]

Glad to hear that, but beware that this song is probably the worst of theirs to learn the language, because it contains mistakes literally every other line

[@end0skeleton404]

I'm currently trying to learn Anishanaabemowin, Finnish, Norwegian, and Old Norse. Then I will know all the languages of my ancestors.

[@jazreese1192]

Any suggestions on where to start for learning the language? 😅 I’ve wanted to for a long time but am struggling on where to start

[@The_Mitri]

I mainly started learning runes and how to properly speak them now I can read runes Im still learning the language though

[@tradehut2782]

This album plays a part in my life's improvements this year.

[@sirooz6070]

Same

[@pavelmachytka5604]

We need to remember that! ❄🌨☄

[@anomienormie8126]

Old Europe is really fascinating to me as an Asian

[@prestonjones1653]

Old Asia is fascinating to me as a European.

[@jack_copperz]

Same

[@nvicious]

Same!

[@kingdomofvinland8827]

Old Europe is facinating to me. Sincerely An American.

[@carissamace]

@@naksu-J What do you mean? The Nordic historical society is massive and working to preserve everything.

[@jilliestorm9079]

The Northern Lights is indeed the bridge between Asgard and Midgard.

[@MrAsdeer]

Can’t wait for this to come out, super excited!

[@thepip3599]

I finally understand why the word “Light” has a G in it! It clearly started out as a J back when those made a Y sound, and I guess at some point people got it confused. Like how Jötun became giant, except for some reason they didn’t actually start pronouncing it that way, just spelling it. I’m just guessing. I don’t actually know. Edit: I have been corrected. What I said about the word “light” and what I said about the word “Jötun” were both wrong.

[@xiaohuwang4173]

The Pip Unfortunately that is incorrect. The Old Norse _ljós_ has a slightly different root than English _light_ (by slightly different I mean that both words have ultimately the same root, but are derived from different forms of this root). The English _light_ is more closely related to German _Licht_ , and should also have a similar pronunciation in the Middle English period. This means that _gh_ in _light_ used to represent a sound similar to /ç/, however this sound is lost in the hundreds of years of sound changes in the English language. Also English _giant_ and Old Norse _jötunn_ are actually not related: _giant_ comes ultimately from Ancient Greek through Latin and French, while _jötunn_ has a purely Germanic root.

[@thepip3599]

王小虎 Oh. Thanks. That makes sense. I always assumed we got the word giant from the word Jötunn. But I guess even if you pronounced the J in Jötunn as a modern J it only kinda sounds like the word giant. Maybe I shouldn’t assume stuff so much.

[@xiaohuwang4173]

The Pip You are very welcome. If you are interested in linguistics and etymology just like I am, you will probably find the website www.wiktionary.org quite useful. It is basically a free online dictionary which also tells you about the etymology of many words in a ton of different languages.

[@weonanegesiscipelibba2973]

@@thepip3599 The English word that's *actually* cognate to "Jötunn" is "ettin", which came from Old English "Eotan"

[@wintersking4290]

Although you were mistaken you were almost right about something else. Which is that G also makes a Y/J sound in many Norse words. There's no particularly discernable reason. It's thought to be a holdover from old Germanic.

[@willyagac2093]

waiting for this video since SKALD released the song. Thank u so much!

[@ragnartheruthless3226]

Hail to the allfather may the gods enlighten my fellow brothers and sisters

[@YHTheGamer]

Great lyrics, translation, editing and video:)

[@TjPhysicist]

Edit, Corrections, thanks @FlamSparks. Fun fact I learnt while looking into the words for this song. While 'Nordrljos' obv. translates to "northern lights", the vikings did not have any mythological words or explanations that refers specifically to what we consider to be "northern lights" (i.e. aurora borealis). This song links "the path to the sky" to the northern lights (seemingly), which as far as I can tell is a much more modern interpretation of things? (the bifrost I believe is more closely related to the rainbow). The northern lights occurs in areas a bit different from what was traditionally inhabited by vikings. note: my initial interest in this was trying to find out if there were any myths around the northern lights, or other words that describe the phenomenon to vikings, since i thought there would be a bunch of those.

[@FlamSparks]

Correct observations, good reasoning, not completely correct deductions, but kudos anyway. "Norðrljós" is in fact the Old Norse term for the "aurora borealis", but it's a mistake made by non-Scandinavians to believe that this phenomenon is tightly related to the vikings. Northern lights are not a phenomenon visible in the whole of Scandinavia, but only in its northmost regions, which were _not_ inhabited by the vikings, but by the Sami populations. Vikings lived more southward, in contemporary south Sweden, bits of southern Norway, some costal areas of Germany and the Netherlands, and especially in Denmark. None of these places are often exposed to the northern lights, because they are way too southwards, that's why the vikings didn't have any mythic explanation for this event, differently from the Sami. It is incorrect to believe that the vikings wouldn't walk out at night because they were afraid of zombies or anything or that the northern lights "moved" along history. This being said, this song clearly refers to the northern lights with words used for other things (most of the lyrics don't make any sense actually, so quit trying to fit them in). Most notably, they used the bits about Bifröst to describe the northern lights instead of the rainbow. Nothing bad, it's a song, doesn't need to be an academical paper. But still, it's true that none of these lines originally described the northern lights for the simple reason that the vikings were not used to them and wouldn't have a reason to write about them.

[@TjPhysicist]

@@FlamSparks thanks for the corrections,... So the northern lights didn't move during history? Huh I swear I read that somewhere as a possible explanation in some or other paper discussing norse mythology, and it sounded credible. At leas tthe overall thinking was right then, the vikings wouldn't have seen them due to geography. Also, the Sami did have words and myths regarding the northern lights? My initial interest in this was that I was trying to find out if there actually were any myths around the northern lights at all in mythology (which is when i stumbled onto the fact that vikings had no myths for them, and assumed that meant there was no specific word for the phenomenon in old norse) since obviously, as you said, the imagery used in the song is not originally tied to the northern lights. I do see a lot of references (outside of this song and related) connecting Northern Lights to Bifrost, but also to light shining from the armor of Valkyries? I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that the latter is a more slightly more modern addition to norse mythology? But i still can't confirm any "original" (as much sense as that word makes in this context) sources of norse mythology actually talking about northern lights. I would have assumed they had a lets say, much more descriptive or interesting name than Nordrljos (isn't that just literally "northern lights"?)

[@FlamSparks]

I don't know where you got this thing of polar lights moving during history, but if they did, it must have been a process occurred long before the vikings, since it's something that takes eons to change. As for the Sami, of course they have words for "northern lights", while for myths, if I'm not mistaken, Sami mythology says that the northern lights are inhabited by the spirits of the dead and people should show respect for them (I might be wrong though, Sami folklore is not my field)

[@TjPhysicist]

@@FlamSparks as an aside though, I do believe that myth and language are ever evolving. Perhaps the vikings of old had no reason to have myths about the northern lights but it's cool to think that it's now clearly worked it's way into modern interpretations of norse mythology (the valkyrie armour thing for example, i still have no idea what the source of that is but it's clearly a thing cuz i see it in a lot of places).

[@TjPhysicist]

@@FlamSparks " but if they did, it must have been a process occurred long before the vikings, since it's something that takes eons to change." yea now that you said it, that sounds about right, lol. Oh you know, I know where that is coming from. the earliest known citings/written accounts of the northern lights were from China (nasa.gov), wwhich now that I think about it doesn't mean much, northern china can see the northern lights even today iirc. also cool. I think this is similar to some myths from other cultures surrounding the milkyway, which relates it to spirits of the dead, or a path to the realm of the dead etc.

[@fandedisney1020]

Good video like always

[@lukasF777]

Wow, This Song says about the Aurora Borealis? Amazing

[@hachiman_legends4658]

Aurora boreal is a disturbance in the magnetosphere Me being a nerd hahahahahahah 🤣

[@arminprobstl6133]

Wirklich schön!

[@thepip3599]

I listened to this while looking at northern lights (they’ve been showing up in Ontario this year for some reason) and it felt very magical

[@SGABlencathra]

Thank you so much for all your work doing these translations. It's much appreciated. Do you think you could possibly do Gleipnir at some point? Cheers!

[@TheOnlyToblin]

Gleipnir is rather easy actually. The noise of footsteps of cat And the beard of a woman And the roots of a rock And the sinews of a bear And the breath of a fish And the spittle of a bird Gleipnir is my name The noise of footsteps of cat And the beard of a woman And the roots of a rock And the sinews of a bear And the breath of a fish And the spittle of a bird Gleipnir is my name No one would give up his hand Until Týr extended his right hand No one would give up his hand Until Týr extended his right hand No one would give up his hand Until Týr extended his right hand No one would give up his hand Until Týr extended his right hand (x6) The noise of footsteps of a cat And the beard of a woman And the roots of a rock And the sinews of a bear And the breath of a fish And the spittle of a bird Gleipnir is my name He howls awfully And spit runs out of his mouth It's a river called Ván There he lies until Ragnarök!!!

[@FlamSparks]

@Beyond Reality [CD10] If you're going to post elsewhere a translation which you haven't done yourself, at least have the decency of crediting the actual author, instead of being a thief and stealing and reposting someone else's translation, pretending it's your own: lyricstranslate.com/en/gleipnir-gleipnir.html-1 Blencathra anyway, Gleipnir is on its way now

[@TheOnlyToblin]

​@@FlamSparks Nowhere did I state this was MY translation. Don't put words in my mouth, sir. And as you've clearly have shown, finding the lyrics isn't hard. Posting them here was a convenience, nothing more. If I wanted to be an ass, I'd simply linked a lmgtfy.com link instead.

[@FlamSparks]

@@TheOnlyToblin the problem is: you didn't credit the original author. The fact the someone else's work is easy to copy-paste doesn't mean it's right to do it without quoting them as source, does it? This translation comes of someone's hard work, and the least you can do is showing some respect for their efforts

[@TheOnlyToblin]

@@FlamSparks Isn't that just a tiny bit rich coming from someone who literally steals and reuploads other artists' work on their channel? This song, for instance, belongs to Skáld, yet you have it uploaded here. Did you ask their permission first?

[@maxx_frost]

proud boy from norway i’m teaching my friends the language i know also know old norse very well proud of where im from

[@MagicoSCB]

Toujours aussi beau, MERCI SKALD de nous faire rêver

[@beatewirtz798]

Episch. Die Musik meiner Seele. Melodie meines Herzens. Bin . . . . zuhause.

[@becbecbecca]

I heard this at TRF this year. Great find

[@AmedeeVanGasse]

Everyone in the comments talks about the lyrics in Old Norse and here I am admiring the music of the nyckelharpa! 😅

[@user-vipgxpn]

+1 for writing the runes is younger futhark! (so bored of that older futhar non-sense you see all over the internet!)

[@FlamSparks]

Well, the title is still in EF x)

[@user-vipgxpn]

@@FlamSparks True ;) doesnt matter, the music is great, and the runes are correct from what I've seen, even the writing conventions have been respected. Very good job really!

[@spiceyblueroyalhoney1225]

@@user-vipgxpn wait, may you tell me what futhark is? I'm interested and would like to know. I would also like to know what your name means.

[@user-vipgxpn]

@@spiceyblueroyalhoney1225 It's simply the alphabet used by vikings (the younger one) the older one is pre-viking/proto-germanic and often misused. Hope it helps

[@spiceyblueroyalhoney1225]

@@user-vipgxpn ah thank you.

[@emajose693]

Musica linda! Mesmo sem entender nada, adorei!

[@hardingferrenterrent5378]

Greetings from the land of thousand islands. Indonesia 🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩😭😭😭😍😍😍

[@Kazue2980]

Thanks for this translation. Does it comes form a nordic saga ?

[@FlamSparks]

It's actually a miscellanea of a bunch of different texts, I wrote the list in the description. In fact, the result turned out pretty inconsistent, with bits of sentences which don't connect well or don't connect at all with the bits following and/or preceding. I think these are the most incoherent and meaningless lyrics skáld have ever come up with

[@thepip3599]

FlamSparks That made me laugh. It sounds like you’re roasting the song. I think it’s great anyway.

[@FlamSparks]

@@thepip3599 nothing personal, just giving an objective reading ú.ú

[@tom3441]

Have bands like this in greek and latim too?

[@arielbenitez98]

Interested as well

[@FlamSparks]

Have fun: - lyricstranslate.com/en/songs/33/none/none/0 - lyricstranslate.com/en/songs/823/none/none/0

[@tamasbagdi9255]

magyarhoz hasonló szavakat használtok, értelmezni is egész jól lehet :D és nem az angol vacak miatt :P

[@dariaellaml1322]

L'attente sera longue mais gratifiante.

[@quentinloki9222]

J'aimerai tellement apprendre cette langue magnifique ❤ vous êtes un groupe géniaux ✌

[@alessandra6714]

ciao, posso consigliarti anche i wardruna e i faun? sono molto bravi e le loro canzoni sono spettacolari ^^

[@FlamSparks]

Conosco e apprezzo molto entrambi, ma con gli Skáld ho una piccola collaborazione in corso, quindi non mi voglio dedicare ad altri, per ora (i Faun sarebbero esclusi a prescindere comunque perché cantano principalmente in tedesco, lingua che non conosco)

[@qwertix5607]

Im waiting ;p

[@wafurinn7700]

The lyrics is Icelandic language right?

[@FlamSparks]

No, it's mostly Old Norse, with a couple of Icelandic "ég" here and there

[@wafurinn7700]

Wow! thank you The old norse is a interesting language😍

[@spiceyblueroyalhoney1225]

Like the other Scandinavian languages modern Icelandic is descended from Old Norse, the language spoken by the Vikings. Unlike the other Scandinavian languages, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Faeroese, Icelandic has changed very little. Modern Icelanders can read the medieval manuscripts with little difficulty.

[@ZAFFIRO2005]

🔥

[@chataignevendemiaire]

Ну нафиг, тут до премьеры 01:10, а я в Якутске, у меня 00:01. Я спать.

[@robinpage2730]

The bïfrost is the northern lights

[@runningriot7963]

What language is this? Doesn't sound Norwegian to me.. Danish perhaps?

[@FlamSparks]

Old Norse

[@rosieposie6322]

ᚾᛟᚱᚦᚱᛚᛃᛟᛇ? That’s the title, right??

[@GG_Bro]

ᚾᛟᚱᚦᚱᛚᛃᛟᛋ

[@danaatribu4158]

Langue ancien noroi danaa tribu💙🌳🔱🕯️

[@halilunes7007]

Çok güzel

[@hachiman_legends4658]

Idk but is this Ruinic please don’t come at me if I am wrong but it could be a north Western European language can anyone tell me ?

[@hachiman_legends4658]

The writing looks Ruinic so ima assume this is a Nordic language?

[@Ratatosk87]

@@hachiman_legends4658 Old Norse 😁

[@AdriOshu98]

[@draumafevari]

Was this song pronounced as Icelandic or old norse though i hear more nasal vowels concerning the ó and ú