Hjalp

Old Norse Hjalp (f.)

Hjalp was recorded in West Scandinavia by the time of the settlement of Iceland (c. 870-930)  and is found in a Swedish place-name. The name was originally a byname from Old Norse hjǫlp ‘help’. It is also the first element of the place-name Helperby, North Yorkshire.

In the twelfth century, one of Earl Rǫgnvaldr of Orkney’s ships was called Hjalp, an early example of giving ships female names.

Old Norse Name

Hjalp

Anglicised Name

Hjalp

Gender

Female

Features in Saga

Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. Íslenzk fornrit XXXIV. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1965, ch. 85.

Ascribed Culture

Collection

Viking Names

Keywords

female_name, North_Yorkshire, Orkney, personal-name, ships

Further information

This object is related to Helperby, North Yorkshire.
Find out about Helperby, North Yorkshire.

References

Judith Jesch (ed.) 2009, ‘Rǫgnvaldr jarl Kali Kolsson, Lausavísur 8’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 585.

Judith Jesch, ‘Women and ships in the Viking world‘, Northern Studies 36 (2001), 49-68.

Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag (1968), pp. 141-142.

E.H. Lind, Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden. Uppsala: A.B. Lundequistska Bokhandel (1915), col. 536-527.