The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda
Kadmos, who went to seek his lost sister Europa. In the Younger Edda the
winds are called the sons of Fornjot, the sea is called the son of
Fornjot, and the brother of the fire and of the winds, and Fornjot is
named among the old giants. This makes it clear that Fornjot and his
offspring are not historical persons, but cosmological impersonations.
And additional proof of this is found by an examination of the beginning
of the Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son. (See Viking Tales of the North,
pp. 1 and 2).
THE FOOLING OF GYLFE.
CHAPTER I.
This story about the ploughing of Gylfe reminds us of the legend told in
the first book of Virgil’s Æneid, about the founding of Carthage by
Dido, who bought from the Libyan king as much ground as she could cover
with a bull’s hide. Elsewhere it is related that she cut the bull’s hide
into narrow strips and encircled therewith all the ground upon which
Carthage was afterward built. Thus Dido deceived the Libyan king nearly
as effectually as Gefjun deluded King Gylfe. The story is also told by
Snorre in Heimskringla, see p. 231.
The passage in verse, which has given translators so much trouble in a
transposed form, would read as follows: Gefjun glad drew that excellent
land (djúpródul = the deep sun = gold; öðla = udal = property; djúpródul
öðla = the golden property), Denmark’s increase (Seeland), so that it
reeked (steamed) from the running oxen. The oxen bore four heads and
eight eyes, as they went before the wide piece of robbed land of the
isle so rich in grass.
Gefjun is usually interpreted as a goddess of agriculture, and her name
is by some derived from γῆ; and _fjon_, that is, _terræ separatio_;
others compare it with the Anglo-Saxon _geofon_ = the sea. The etymology
remains very uncertain.
CHAPTER II.
It is to the delusion or eye-deceit mentioned in this chapter that
Snorre Sturlasson refers in his Heimskringla, in Chapter VI of Ynglinga
Saga.
Thjodolf of Hvin was a celebrated skald at the court of Harald Fairhair.
Thinking thatchers, etc. Literally transposed, this passage would read:
Reflecting men let shields (literally Svafner’s, that is Odin’s
roof-trees,) glisten on the back. They were smitten with stones. To let
shields glisten on the back, is said of men who throw their shields on
their backs to protect themselves against those who pursue the flying
host.
Har means the High One, Jafnhar the Equally High One, and Thride the
Third One. By these three may be meant the three chief gods of the
North: Odin, Thor and Frey; or they may be simply an expression of the
Eddic trinity. This trinity is represented in a number of ways: by Odin,
Vile and Ve in the creation of the world, and by Odin, Hœner and Loder
in the creation of Ask and Embla, the first human pair. The number three
figures extensively in all mythological systems. In the pre-chaotic
state we have Muspelheim, Niflheim and Ginungagap. Fornjot had three
sons: Hler, Loge and Kare. There are three norns: Urd, Verdande and
Skuld. There are three fountains: Hvergelmer, Urd’s and Mimer’s; etc.
(See Norse Mythology, pp. 183, 195, 196.)
Har being Odin, Har’s Hall will be Valhal. You will not come out from
this hall unless you are wiser. In the lay of Vafthrudner, of the Elder
Edda, we have a similar challenge, where Vafthrudner says to Odin:
Out will you not come
From our halls
Unless I find you to be wiser (than I am).
CHAPTER III.
This chapter gives twelve names of Odin. In the Eddas and in the skaldic
lays he has in all nearly two hundred names. His most common name is
Odin (in Anglo-Saxon and in Old High German _Wodan_), and this is
thought by many to be of the same origin as our word _god_. The other
Old Norse word for god, _tivi_, is identical in root with Lat. _divus_;
Sansk. _dwas_; Gr. Διός (Ζεύς); and this is again connected with _Tyr_,
the Tivisco in the Germania of Tacitus. (See Max Müller’s Lectures on
the Science of Language, 2d series, p. 425). Paulus Diakonus states that
Wodan, or Gwodan, was worshiped by all branches of the Teutons. Odin has
also been sought and found in the Scythian _Zalmoxis_, in the Indian
_Buddha_, in the Celtic Budd, and in the Mexican Votan. Zalmoxis,
derived from the Gr. Ζαλμός, helmet, reminds us of Odin as the
helmet-bearer (Grimm, Gesch. der Deutschen Sprache). According to
Humboldt, a race in Guatemala, Mexico, claim to be descended from
Votan (Vues des Cordillères, 1817, I, 208). This suggests the question
whether Odin’s name may not have been brought to America by the Norse
discoverers in the 10th and 11th centuries, and adopted by some of the
native races. In the Lay of Grimner (Elder Edda) the following names of
Odin are enumerated:
Grim is my name
And Ganglere,
Herjan and Helmet-bearer,
Thekk and Thride,
Thud and Ud,
Helblinde and Har,
Sad and Svipal,
And Sanngetal,
Herteit and Hnikar,
Bileyg and Baleyg,
Bolverk, Fjolner,
Grim and Grimner,
Glapsvid and Fjolsvid,
Sidhot, Sidskeg,
Sigfather, Hnikud,
Alfather, Valfather,
Atrid and Farmatyr.
With one name
Was I never named
When I fared ’mong the peoples.
Grimner they called me
Here at Geirrod’s,
But Jalk at Asmund’s,
And Kjalar the time
When sleds (kjalka) I drew,
And Thror at the Thing,
Vidur on the battle-field,
Oske and Ome,
Jafnhar and Biflinde,
Gondler and Harbard ’mong the gods.
Svidur and Svidre
Hight I at Sokmimer’s,
And fooled the ancient giant
When I alone Midvitne’s,
The mighty son’s,
Bane had become.
Odin I now am called,
Ygg was my name before,
Before that I hight Thund,
Yak and Skilfing,
Vafud and Hroptatyr,
Got and Jalk ’mong the gods,
Ofner and Svafner.
All these names, I trow,
Have to me alone been given.
What the etymology of all these names is, it is not easy to tell. The
most of them are clearly Norse words, and express the various activities
of their owner. It is worthy of notice that it is added when and where
Odin bore this or that name (his name was Grim at Geirrod’s, Jalk at
Asmund’s, etc.), and that the words sometimes indicate a progressive
development, as Thund, then Ygg, and then Odin. First he was a mere
sound in the air (Thund), then he took to thinking (Ygg), and at last he
became the inspiring soul of the universe. Although we are unable to
define all these names, they certainly each have a distinct meaning, and
our ancestors certainly understood them perfectly. Har = the High One;
Jafn-har = the Equally High One; Thride = the Third (Ζεὺς ἄλλος and
Τρίτος); Alfather probably contracted from _Alda_father = the Father of
the Ages and the Creations; Veratyr = the Lord of Beings; Rögner = the
Ruler (from regin); Got (Gautr, from _gjóta_, to cast) = the Creator,
Lat. Instillator; Mjotud = the Creator, the word being allied to
Anglo-Saxon _meotod_, _metod_, Germ. _Messer_, and means originally
cutter; but to cut and to make are synonymous. Such names as these have
reference to Odin’s divinity as creator, arranger and ruler of gods and
men. Svid and Fjolsvid = the swift, the wise; Ganglere, Gangrad and
Vegtam = the wanderer, the waywont; Vidrer = the weather-ruler, together
with serpent-names like Ofner, Svafner, etc., refer to Odin’s knowledge,
his journeys, the various shapes he assumes. Permeating all nature, he
appears in all its forms. Names like Sidhot = the slouchy hat; Sidskeg =
the long-beard; Baleyg = the burning-eye; Grimner = the masked; Jalk
(Jack) = the youth, etc., express the various forms in which he was
thought to appear,--to his slouchy hat, his long beard, or his age, etc.
Such names as Sanngetal = the true investigator; Farmatyr = the
cargo-god, etc., refer to his various occupations as inventor,
discoverer of runes, protector of trade and commerce, etc. Finally, all
such names as Herfather = father of hosts; Herjan = the devastator;
Sigfather = the father of victory; Sigtyr = god of victory; Skilfing =
producing trembling; Hnikar = the breaker, etc., represent Odin as the
god of war and victory. Oske = wish, is thus called because he gratifies
our desires. Gimle, as will be seen later, is the abode of the blessed
after Ragnarok. Vingolf (Vin and golf) means _friends’ floor_, and is
the hall of the goddesses. Hel is the goddess of death, and from her
name our word _hell_ is derived.
Our ancestors divided the universe into nine worlds: the uppermost was
Muspelheim (the world of light); the lowest was Niflheim (the world of
darkness). Compare the Greek word νεφέλη = mist. (See Norse Mythology,
p. 187.)
GINUNGAGAP. Ginn means wide, large, far-reaching, perhaps also void
(compare the Anglo-Saxon _gin_ = gaping, open, spacious; ginian = to
gap; and ginnung = a yawning). Ginungagap thus means the yawning gap or
abyss, and represents empty space. The poets use ginnung in the sense of
a fish and of a hawk, and in geographical saga-fragments it is used as
the name of the Polar Sea.
HVERGELMER. This word is usually explained as a transposition for
Hvergemler, which would then be derived from Hver and gamall (old) = the
old kettle; but Petersen shows that gelmir must be taken from galm,
which is still found in the Jutland dialect, and means a gale (compare
Golmstead = a windy place, and _golme_ = to roar, blow). Gelmer is then
the one producing galm, and Hvergelmer thus means the roaring kettle.
The twelve rivers proceeding from Hvergelmer are called the Elivogs
(Élivágar) in the next chapter. Éli-vágar means, according to Vigfusson,
ice-waves. The most of the names occur in the long list of river names
given in the Lay of Grimner, of the Elder Edda. Svol = the cool;
Gunnthro = the battle-trough. Slid is also mentioned in the Vala’s
Prophecy, where it is represented as being full of mud and swords. Sylg
(from _svelgja_ = to swallow) = the devourer; Ylg (from _yla_ = to roar)
= the roaring one; Leipt = the glowing, is also mentioned in the Lay of
Helge Hunding’s Bane, where it is stated that they swore by it (compare
Styx); Gjoll (from _gjalla_ = to glisten and clang) = the shining,
clanging one. The meaning of the other words is not clear, but they
doubtless all, like those explained, express cold, violent motion, etc.
The most noteworthy of these rivers are Leipt and Gjoll. In the Lay of
Grimner they are said to flow nearest to the abode of man, and fall
thence into Hel’s realm. Over Gjoll was the bridge which Hermod, after
the death of Balder, crossed on his way to Hel. It is said to be
thatched with shining gold, and a maid by name Modgud watches it. In the
song of Sturle Thordson, on the death of Skule Jarl, it is said that
“the king’s kinsman went over the Gjoll-bridge.” The farther part of the
horizon, which often appears like a broad bright stream, may have
suggested this river.
SURT means the swarthy or black one. Many have regarded him as the
unknown (dark) god, but this is probably an error. But there was some
one in Muspelheim who sent the heat, and gave life to the frozen drops
of rime. The latter, and not Surt, who is a giant, is the eternal god,
the mighty one, whom the skald in the Lay of Hyndla dare not name. It is
interesting to notice that our ancestors divided the evolution of the
world into three distinct periods: (1) a pre-chaotic condition
(Niflheim, Muspelheim and Ginungagap); (2) a chaotic condition (Ymer and
the cow Audhumbla); (3) and finally the three gods, Odin (spirit), Vile
(will) and Ve (sanctity), transformed chaos into cosmos. And away back
in this pre-chaotic state of the world we find this mighty being who
sends the heat. It is not definitely stated, but it can be inferred from
other passages, that just as the good principle existed from everlasting
in Muspelheim, so the evil principle existed co-eternally with it in