Contacts and Networks in the Baltic Sea Region : : Austmarr as a northern mare nostrum, ca. 500-1500 AD / / ed. by Kendra Willson, Frog, Maths Bertell.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Amsterdam University Press Complete eBook-Package 2019
• MitwirkendeR: Aalto, Sirpa,; Bentlin, Mikko,; Bertell, Maths,; Frog,,; Harvilahti, Lauri,; Jackson, Tatjana,; Korpela, Jukka,; Kouvola, Karolina,; Podossinov, Aleksandr,; Słupecki, Leszek,; Willson, Frog,; Willson, Kendra,; Åhfeldt, Laila Kitzler,
• HerausgeberIn: Bertell, Maths,; Frog, ,; Willson, Kendra,
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam : : Amsterdam University Press, , [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Crossing Boundaries: Turku Medieval and Early Modern Studies ; 11
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (296 p.) :; 25 halftones, 10 line art

Since prehistoric times, the Baltic Sea has functioned as a northern mare nostrum - a crucial nexus that has shaped the languages, folklore, religions, literature, technology, and identities of the Germanic, Finnic, Sámi, Baltic, and Slavic peoples. This anthology explores the networks among those peoples. The contributions to Contacts and Networks in the Baltic Sea Region: Austmarr as a Northern mare nostrum, ca. 500-1500 ad address different aspects of cultural contacts around and across the Baltic from the perspectives of history, archaeology, linguistics, literary studies, religious studies, and folklore. The introduction offers a general overview of crosscultural contacts in the Baltic Sea region as a framework for contextualizing the volume's twelve chapters, organized in four sections. The first section concerns geographical conceptions as revealed in Old Norse and in classical texts through place names, terms of direction, and geographical descriptions. The second section discusses the movement of cultural goods and persons in connection with elite mobility, the slave trade, and rune-carving practice. The third section turns to the history of language contacts and influences, using examples of Finnic names in runic inscriptions and Low German loanwords in Finnish. The final section analyzes intercultural connections related to mythology and religion spanning Baltic, Finnic, Germanic, and Sámi cultures. Together these diverse articles present a dynamic picture of this distinctive part of the world.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of contents -- List of maps, figures and tables -- Note on alphabetisation -- Preface -- Introduction: Looking across the Baltic Sea and over linguistic fences -- Section 1. Mental maps -- 1 The northern part of the Ocean in the eyes of ancient geographers -- 2 Austmarr on the mental map of medieval Scandinavians -- 3 The connection between geographical space and collective memory in Jómsvíkinga saga -- Section 2. Mobility -- 4 Rune carvers traversing Austmarr? -- 5 Polish noble families and noblemen of Scandinavian origin in the eleventh and twelfth centuries -- 6 A medieval trade in female slaves from the north along the Volga -- Section 3. Language -- 7 Ahti on the Nydam strap-ring -- 8 Low German and Finnish revisited -- Section 4. Myth and religion formation -- 9 Mythic logic and meta-discursive practices in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions -- 10 The artificial bride on both sides of the Gulf of Finland -- 11 Local Sámi bear ceremonialism in a Circum-Baltic perspective -- 12 Mythologies in transformation -- Contributors -- Indices