Does anyone know what murderous oak is?

[u/hey_there_moon]

Hi everyone I was reading about Icelandic staves and have no idea what is meant by murderous oak. Google was absolutely no help, so I'm hoping someone here will have some insight into what is meant by murderous oak.

I'm thinking maybe it is just a local term that doesn't translate well into English?

Thank you all in advance for any info you can provide.

[u/steik]

It's effectively a fictional type of wood that was believed to be cursed:

https://ismus.is/tjodfraedi/hljodrit/1051117?sida=2

No oak trees are native to Iceland.

[u/Strasiak]

From "Icelandic magic - aims, tools and tecniques of the Icelandic sorcerers" by Christopher Alan smith

"..There are indications, too, that the oak was sacred to Donar (Thor) among the Germanic tribes, and the memory of this may have lived on among the descendants of the Norwegian settlers of Iceland. Oak is specified for many different intentions, and could be used to protect, to heal, to harm, or for divination. Some spells are even more specific in stipulating the use of manndrápseik (‘killing oak’ or ‘manslaughter oak’). The precise nature of this is unknown, and one can only speculate as to what was meant by this. It is possible that it refers to wood salvaged from a fatal shipwreck..."

Another source I found is from the Icelandic verbal history site ísmús where a man talks about it being a special kind of wood that if a ship were to be made of it, would paralyze the sailors.

Afaik, there is no consensus on what exactly a manndrápseik is, but the translation is correct.

[u/hey_there_moon → u/Strasiak]

Oh damn haha I guess I'll never know then. This is going to keep me up at night for the rest of my life.

[u/Strasiak → u/hey_there_moon]

Forgot to add "eik" was commonly used as a word for "tree" rather than necessarily meaning Oak as in the hardwood. So imagine to your hearts content.

[u/Sdisa]

It just comes from boatbuilding and folk tales.  There is a "breed/type" of wood that is like oak that makes the people aboard lazy/tired/drowsy.

Getting tired in the harsh conditions meant that fishermen died. So that is why the oak was murderous.

[u/Fridrick]

Seeing as how oak doesn't grow here at all, maybe it refers to a felled oak beam/plank?

[u/hey_there_moon → u/Fridrick]

Hmm you're probably on the right track since it's meant for fisherman. Maybe it's a garbled translation from wherever the timber was shipped in from.

[u/Sdisa → u/hey_there_moon]

Not really no. A more common word for manndrápseik is manndrápsviður. 

Just folk tales from boat building and fishing.

[u/reynir_th → u/hey_there_moon]

We used driftwood extensively (exclusively even) for boat building and craftsmen here were definitely familiar with oak as a material even though the trees themselves didn't grow here.  You can find references of blood oak (blóðeik) which is a type of driftwood forbidden to use in boats and I would guess is the same thing as manndrápsviður/manndrápseik.