From Iceland — Word Of The Issue: Kvennabósi

Word Of The Issue: Kvennabósi

Published October 5, 2017

Word Of The Issue: Kvennabósi

Around the year 1300, the Saga of Bósi and Herraud was written. It tells of the fantastic adventures of two viking friends. The most notorious part of the story is the graphic recounting of an erotic rendezvous between Bósi and a farmer’s daughter. In fact, Bósi was such an infamous womaniser that his name became synonymous with being a ladies’ man, and the word “kvennabósi” was born. For comparison’s sake, if I was a brilliant writer—instead of a hack— future generations would speak of being a “writelias,” (my name being Elías). Thus, a future conversation could transpire as follows: “Did you read Steve’s new article?”, “Yeah, he’s a real writelias.”

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