flyting

27Dec07

Flyting is a contest of insults, often conducted in verse.

In Norse and Germanic cultures, flytings are used as either a prelude to battle or as a form of combat in their own right. The exchange is regular, if not ritualized, and the insults usually center on accusations of cowardice or sexual impropriety or perversion. Several poems of Norse Mythology contain many flytings or consist solely of flytings, including the Eddic poem Lokasenna, wherein Loki insults the Norse gods.

Flytings existed in Arabic poetry; they were also common in 16th century Scottish poetry.

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