shield-maidenとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From shield +‎ maiden. Calque of Old Norse skjaldmær (“shieldmaiden”).

名詞

shieldmaiden (複数形 shieldmaidens)

1. (Norse mythology) A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle.
   • 1845 [1832–1836], Erik Gustaf Geijer, translated by J. H. Turner, The History of the Swedes, London: Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane, translation of Svenska folkets historia (in Swedish), page 33:

     The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity.

   • 1849, John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England:

     The Anglosaxon belief in the Shieldmaidens comes to us indeed in a darkened form, yet we can hardly doubt that it survived.

   • 1890, Paul Belloni Du Chaillu, The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations, volume 2:

     Störkud rushed through the ranks with a drawn sword and killed one after another; he cut down Hjört; whereupon Visma, shieldmaiden, who carried the standard of Harald, met him.

   • 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, →ISBN, page 262:

     There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North!

同意語

参考