A scop (/ʃɒp/[1] or /skɒp/[2]) was a poet as represented in Old English poetry. The scop is the Old English counterpart of the Old Norseskald, with the important difference that "skald" was applied to historical persons, and scop is used, for the most part, to designate oral poets within Old English literature. Very little is known about scops, and their historical existence is questioned by some scholars.
^Bahn, Eugene; Bahn, Margaret (1970). A History of Oral Interpretation. Minneapolis: Burgess Publishing. p. 56.