Dictionary

shieldmaiden en · NOUN

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (Norse) A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle.
   • There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North! 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, →ISBN, page 262:
   • The Anglosaxon belief in the Shieldmaidens comes to us indeed in a darkened form, yet we can hardly doubt that it survived. 1849, John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England:
   • The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity. 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:
   • 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. 1890, Paul Belloni Du Chaillu, The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations, volume 2:

Forms

Relateds

warrioress · valkyrie · virago · fightress · fighteress · gladiatrix · Amazon · amazon

Synonyms

shield-maid · shieldmaid · shieldmay · shield-may

Translations (15)

non skjaldmær (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · nl schildmaagd (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · pt donzela escudeira (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · lt skydo mergelė (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · da skjoldmø (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · de Schildmaid (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · fi aseneito (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · nb skjoldmøy (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · sv sköldmö (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · fi kilpineito (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · pl tarczowniczka (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · it fanciulla scudiera (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · is skjaldmær (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · es doncella escudera (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle) · nn skjoldmøy (Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle)