Mansöngr

A mansǫngr (literally 'maiden-song'; plural mansǫngvar; modern Icelandic mansöngur, plural mansöngvar) is a form of Norse poetry. In scholarly usage the term has often been applied to medieval skaldic love-poetry; and it is used of lyric openings to rímur throughout the Icelandic literary tradition.

==In high-medieval Iceland== Skaldic love-poetry and erotic poems in Old Norse-Icelandic are often characterised in modern scholarship as mansöngvar. However, Edith Marold and Bjarni Einarsson have argued that the term mansöngr has been over-used in medieval scholarship, being applied to love-poems which we have no evidence were actually viewed as mansöngvar. Many medieval references to mansöngvar are not accompanied by the poem in question, and the boundaries of the genre are thus disputed. The Icelandic Homily Book (from c. 1200) mentions mansöngr in connection with the music of David and Solomon.