As far as I can understand, Þengill is a word more appropriately used for "princes" or generic nobility, but buðlungr and lofðungr are poetic variations. Definitely poetic terms. It's hard to tell their precise "literal" meaning though. Lofðungr may have something to do with "lof" meaning "praise, laud"... a king is a man who is praised? Konungr is the standard word though yes.

To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
From: justinhill1@...
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2011 12:44:26 +0800
Subject: [norse_course] Norse ideas of Kingship

 

Working on a series of novels about 1066 et al, and am interested in the danish/english heritage of the Godwinsons.
 
checking my ON dictionary, I come up with a number of various words for ‘king’
 
konungr, thengill, buthlungr, lofthungr etc. 
 
I’m assuming konungr is the basic form (like cyning) – which gives names to places around me like coningsborough.
 
But what do the others mean?  are they poetic variations, or do they have different meanings, that are lost in translation to ‘king’?
 
Any help much appreciated.
 
thanks
 
 
Justin