Ósamræmra

Ósamræmra is a term encountered in Icelandic linguistic and literary discourse used to describe a higher degree of disharmony or lack of concord within a text, performance, or musical or poetic arrangement. The word is formed as the comparative of ósamræmi (disharmony, lack of agreement) with the suffix -ra, yielding a literal sense of “more disharmonious” or “more incongruous.”

In literary criticism, ósamræmra may be used to characterize passages that deliberately subvert meter, rhyme, or thematic unity to create tension, ambiguity, or a sense of destabilization. In musicology or sound studies, the concept can denote an intensified level of dissonance introduced through modal shifts, chromatic movement, or polyphonic clashes that challenge conventional harmony. The term remains largely theoretical and is not widely catalogued in standard Icelandic dictionaries; it appears primarily in scholarly discussions of style, form, and expressive strategy rather than as a fixed technical term.

Usage is limited and highly context-dependent; some critics treat ósamræmra as a deliberate experimental device, while others prefer established terms such as samræmi (harmony) or dissonance. The term serves to emphasize gradation in disorder or incongruity rather than a binary classification of text or sound.

See also: ósamræmi; samræmi; dissonance; harmony. Notes: Because it is an obscure or specialized term, examples of usage are scarce and rely on academic articles or literary commentary rather than everyday language.