   sagas are stories mostly about ancient scandinavian and germanic history, about early viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to iceland and of feuds between icelandic families. they were written in the old norse language, mainly in iceland. "saga" is a word originating from old norse or icelandic language ("saga" is also the modern icelandic and swedish word for "story"). saga is a cognate of the english word say: its various meanings in icelandic are approximately equivalent to "something said" or "a narrative in prose", somewhat along the lines of a "story", a "tale", or a "history".kellogg, xx the texts are tales in prose which share some similarities with the epic, often with stanzas or whole poems in alliterative verse embedded in the text, of heroic deeds of days long gone, "tales of worthy men," who were often vikings, sometimes pagan, sometimes christian. the tales are usually realistic, except legendary sagas, sagas of saints, sagas of bishops and translated or recomposed romances. they are sometimes romanticised and fantastic, but always dealing with human beings one can understand. ==background==  the term saga originates from the norse saga (pl. sÃ¶gur), and refers to (1) "what is said, statement" or (2) "story, tale, history". it is cognate with the english word saw (as in old saw), and the german sage. icelandic sagas are based on oral traditions and much research has focused on what is real and what is fiction within each tale. the accuracy of the sagas is often hotly disputed. most of the manuscripts in which the sagas are preserved were taken to denmark and sweden in the 17th century, but later returned to iceland. classic sagas were composed in the 1200s. scholars once believed that these sagas were transmitted orally from generation to generation until scribes wrote them down in the 1200s. however, most scholars now believe the sagas were conscious artistic creations, based on both oral and written tradition. a study focusing on the description of the items of clothing mentioned in the sagas concludes that the authors attempted to create a historic "feel" to the story, by dressing the characters in what was at the time thought to be "old fashioned clothing". however, these clothing are not contemporary with the events of the saga as they are a closer match to the clothing worn in the 12th century.http://www.historiskedragter.dk//norlit.php th
History_of_the_Germanic_peoples Icelandic_literature Medieval_Scotland Medieval_literature North_Germanic_languages Norwegian_High-medieval_History Old_Norse_literature Sagas Sources_of_Norse_mythology