This paper comprises a study of the somatic vocabulary associated with particular emotions (especially anger, shame and love) as they appear in Old Norse texts. Through a detailed analysis of the occurrences of these emotion expressions in different textual genres and periods, the paper investigates the way in which certain physiological manifestations were linked to a specific emotion in a certain type of text and period, and how certain changes in the usage of vocabulary came into being. It is concluded that changes in the conceptualization of emotions in Old Norse written texts were mediated by new metaphors and metonymies imported into medieval Icelandic culture in the form of translated texts, both religious and secular.