284 literary works has in recent times been ascribed to him. His son Lopt married Thora, daughter of king Magnus Barefoot; one of their sons was the learned Jón Loptsson, foster father of Snorri Sturluson. The poems contained in this collection are the following: Voluspá, or the Sibyl’s Prophecy; Hávamál, or the Sayings of the High One (a gnomic poem, combined from sundry sayings ascribed to Odin); Vafþrúðnismál, or the Duel of Questions between Odin and Vafthrudnir (see above, p. 100); Grímnismál, or the Tale of Grimnir (see p. 102); Skírnismál, or Skirnir’s Journey (p. 15); Hárbarðsljóð , or Harbard’s Abuse of Thor (p. 105); Hymiskviða, or Thor’s Visit to Hymir (p. 65); Lokasenna, or Loki’s Flyting (p. 86); Þrymskviða, on Thor’s recovery of his hammer from Thrym, king of the Giants (p. 76); Alvíssmál, a poem containing interpretations of various words; Vegtamskviða or Baldrs Draumar (p. 80); Rigspula, an allegorical poem dealing with the origin of the various estates or classes of society; Hyndluljóð, an historico-genealogical poem; thereafter come the historical lays, of which the greater number have to do with the Volsung cycle: Volundarkviða, Helgakvða Hjorvarðssonar, Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and II, Grípisspá, Reginsmál, Fáfnismál, Sigrdrifumál, a fragment1 of a Sigurðarkviða, Guðrúnarkviða I, Sigurðarkviða in Skamma, Helreið Brynhildar, Guðrúnarkviða II and III, Oddrúnargrátr, Atlakviða, Atlamál, Guðrúnarhvot, and Hamðismál.2 1 Just before this fragment several leaves are missing in the principal manuscript, the Codex Regius; to this lacuna is due the loss of several of the poems. Their contents, however, are known through the Volsunga Saga, the writer of which had access to a complete manuscript of the Edda. 2 The later and most useful editions of Sæmund’s Edda are the following: Norrœn Fornkvœði. Islandsk Samling av folkelige Oldtidsdigte orn Nordens Guder og Heroer, almindelig kaldet Sœmundar Edda hins fróða. Udg. of Sophus Bugge. Christiania 1867. — Die Lieder der älteren Edda (Sœmundar Edda) herausgeg. von K. Hildebrand. Paderborn 1876 (Bibliothek der ältesten deutsehen Literatur-Denkmäler. Bd. 7). — The same. Völlig umgearbeitet von H. Gering. 3 Aufi. 1912. (Among the critical apparatus is to be found an exhaustive account of the treatment of the text by earlier editors.) — Eddalieder. Altnordische gedichte mythologischen and heroischen inhalts herausgeg. von Finnur Jónsson. I. Halle 1888. II. 1890 (Altnordische Textbibliothek. No. 2.3.). — Die Lieder der Edda herausgeg. von B. Sijmons and H. Gering. I. Text. Halle 1888-1906. 11. Wörterbuch. 1903 (Germanistische Handbibliothek. VII). — Sœmundar-edda. Eddu-kvœði. Finnur Jónsson bjó til prentunar. Reykjavik 1905. — Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern herausgeg. von G. Neckel. Text. Heidelberg 1914 (Germanische Bibliothek. 2 Abteil. Bd. 9). Of more recent translations the following may be noted: Den œldre Edda. Norrøne oldkvad fra vikingetiden 9-11 aarh. e. Chr. oversatte av G. A. Gjessing. Christiania 1899. – Edda-kvœde. Norrøne fornsongar. Paa nynorsk ved Ivar Mortensson. I. Oslo 1905. II. 1908. — Den œldre Edda. Ny Oversættelse ved Olaf Hansen. Copenhagen 1911. — Sämunds Edda översatt från isländskan av Erik Brate. Stockholm 1913. [Translator’s note. — Vigfusson and Powell’s Corpus Poeticum Boreale contains translations into English prose. For an English metrical translation, see H. A. Bellows, The Poetic Edda, The American-Scandinavian Foundation, second printing, New York 1926.]

285 The ascription of the so-called Younger or Prose Edda, or at any rate great parts of it, to Snorri, rests on traditional testimony and also on definite evidences in the ancient work itself. Its contents are as follows: (1) Gylfaginning (i.e., the Hoodwinking of Gylfi), a survey of mythology, in the form of questions and answers; the questioner is king Gylfi, who visits Asgard in disguise; and those who answer are the three supreme gods, here called Hár, Jafnhár, and þriði. (2) Bragarœður, Bragi’s explanations to Ægir of the origins of the art of poetry. (3) Skáldskaparmál, a list of the most important poetic paraphrases and of the ancient legends which provide a means of understanding the paraphrases. (4) Háttatal, a set of poetic principles, with appropriate examples. This work alone properly bears the name of Edda; the common designation of the old collection of poems by the same title was originally due to a confusion of the two works.1 1 Snorri’s Edda was edited in Copenhagen in the 17th century by Resenius. The most important later editions are the following: Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Tom. I-III. Hafniae 1848, 1852, 1880-87 (with a Latin translation). Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Udg. av Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen 1900. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Finnur Jónsson bjó til prentunar. Reykjavik 1907. (Translation): Snorre Sturluson: Gylfaginning. Den gamle nordiske Gudelære (første Del of Snorres Edda) oversatt av Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen 1902. [Translator’s note. — Selections from the Edda of Snorri have been published in English translation by A. G. Brodeur. The Prose Edda. The American-Scandinavian Foundation, second printing, New York 1923.]

286 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD — THE GIANTS — THE ÆSIR — MEN AND WOMEN — DWARFS — VANIR — ELVES Page 4, line 7 — Our forefathers thought of the earth as a round disk or plate, which had been lifted up by the sons of Borr in such a manner that it swam on the surface of the universal ocean. Round about along the coasts of this sea lay Jotunheim, the home of the Giants, separated from Midgard by huge mountains. It is for this reason that the Giants were also called Cliff-Ettins. Jotunheim was a cold and dreary realm; thence the name Rime-Thursar. These beliefs rested on the more primitive supposition that mountains in general were the habitat of Giants or Mountain-Trolls, who harassed neighboring human beings, robbed them of their cattle, enticed persons into the mountain fastnesses, and the like (see p. 39). The earliest form of the name of the Giants, or Jotuns, seems to have been “etuna-,” related to the verb eta, to eat; the original meaning would then appear to be “big-eater” (cf. C. W. von Sydow, Jättarna i mytologi och folktradition, in the periodical Folkminnen och Folktankar VI, Lund 1919; cf. also VII, 1921, p. 136 ff.). In Anglo-Saxon the name had the form eoten. A Jotun woman was called in ancient times a gýgr, and to this day the mountain-troll’s wife is designated as “gygr” or “gyvr.” The later, Christian conception of the Jotuns has been thoroughly dealt with by K. Liestøl in an article, Jøtnarne og joli (Maal og Minne 1911). As the geographical horizon of the Northern peoples gradually became more extended, Ginnunga-gap was moved farther and farther outward. As early as the 13th century, Bjarmiland in Northern Russia was supposed to stretch far to the north and west until it joined the boundaries of Greenland. “Trollebotn” now came to occupy the spaces formerly assigned to Ginnunga-gap in the Arctic Seas (cf. p. 40) and according to one theory Ginnunga-gap was placed at the outermost edge of the ocean between Greenland and Vinland, while Vinland was thought to touch the boundaries of Africa. See Gustav Storm’s article, Ginnungagap i Mythologies og i Geografien (Arkiv för nordisk filologi VI, 1890, pp. 340-50). Audhumla (a later form has -humbla) was no doubt imagined to be a cow without horns, since in Scottish dialects “humblecow” still has that meaning (adjective homyll, hummilt, “polled”); it is uncertain whether the first syllable of the name is the adjective

287 auðr, “waste,” or the substantive auðr, “riches” (referring to the wealth of milk); probably it is the latter. Polled cows — which are excellent milkers — are mentioned by Tacitus (about 100 A.D.) as a characteristic feature of the agricultural economy of the Germanic tribes. The explanation of Audhumla as meaning “the rich polled cow” was put forward by P. A. Munch (1854). This etymology has recently been justified independently by A. Noreen, in his article, Urkon Auðhumla och några hennes språkliga släktingar, in the periodical Namn och Bygd VI, 1918, pp. 169-72. Manigarm is not mentioned in the Poetic Edda, the omission being due to Snorri’s misunderstanding a passage in the Eddic poem Grímnismál. According to this poem, both Skoll and Hati are the pursuers of the sun. The basis for the notions about them is to be found in the so-called mock suns (variegated beams of light caused by the sun’s rays breaking through clouds); in Norway and Denmark these phenomena are known as “solulver” (sun-wolves), and in Sweden as “solvargar” (sun-wolves). See Axel Olrik, Aarbøger for nordisk oldkyndighed 1902, p. 189 ff. Lidskjalf, from hlið, “gate,” “portal,” and skjálf (skjolf), a word known from place names (Skjelve, Skjelver) and from the Anglo-Saxon scylf, “point”‘, “tower” (cf. E. Björkman, Namn och Bygd VII, 1919, p. 174 f). The word then probably has the meaning “gate-tower.” The name Æsir (Modern Norwegian singular “ås”) is the Old Norse form, derived from a theoretical *ansuz, Gothic *ansus; thus even the ancient Gothic author Jordanes relates that the Goths, before they accepted Christianity, worshipped “Anses.” The ancient ans- has become, in our language, “ås,” just as anst-(love) has become “åst” (cf. the feminine name Åsta), and as gans- has become “gås.” In German the form ans- remained. In Anglo-Saxon, on the other hand, it was contracted to ōs, plural ēse. In Sweden and Denmark it appears in the mutated form œs-. Evidences of these facts occur particularly in the numerous personal names with Ans-, Ós-, Æs- or Ás-, for example, German “Ansmand,” Anglo-Saxon, “Osmund,” Danish and Swedish “Æsmund,” Norwegian “Åsmund.” The celebrated missionary’s German name “Ansgar” corresponds to the Danish “Æsger,” the Norwegian Åsgeir. It is thus easy to see that the name of the Æsir, contrary to a common supposition, has nothing to do with Asia. — The meaning of the word “æser” or “ewer” is not certain. — From “ås” is derived the feminine form “åsynjer,”

288 a designation for the goddesses (in Old Norse ásynja, plural ásynjur). Page 4, line 27 — Among scholars the opinion is general that the warfare between the Æsir and the Vanir is the reflection of a struggle between an earlier, more naturalistic cult and a later cult introduced from without. In this connection stress is laid on the circumstance that the worship of Odin appears to have come from the south into the North at a relatively late date. Cf. Henry Petersen, Om Nordboernes Gudedyrkelse og Gudetro i Hedenold, Copenhagen 1876; Kaarle Krohn, Skandinavisk mytologi, Helsingfors 1922, p. 93 ff. In many localities the Elves are still a subject for familiar discussion. In Sweden they are known as älvor (cf. “älvkvarnar,” a term used to designate saucer-shaped hollows in stones [rock engravings], in which the Elves up to a recent time were accustomed to accept offerings in kind), in Denmark as elver or eller; and many legends are current concerning elf-maidens and elfin kings. According to popular belief, they lived on hills or in barrows (Danish, elf-hills), in forests and thickets, particularly in copse wood (Danish “elle-krat”).1 Although they are described as beautiful (“fair as an elfin woman”), they may often be very malicious (cf. Norwegian “alvskot,” a term applied to various illnesses; see Nils Lid, Um finnskot og alvskot, in Maal og Minne 1921). Among the Anglo-Saxons the word was œlf (English “elf”) among the Germans, alp; but in modern German the word “Alp” has another meaning (see note to p. 47), and the term commonly used at present, “Ellen,” was not introduced before the 18th century, when Wieland took it over from English. — On the position of the Elves in the history of religion, see note to p. 47, toward the end. The word Alfheim implied in part a dwelling place of the gods, and in part an entire world. In the minds of our ancestors there were several such principal worlds (heimar) namely Godheim (home of the gods), Vanaheim, Alfheim, Mannheim (home of men), Svartalfaheim, Jotunheim, Hel (heim), and Niflheim. 1 The notion that the Elves (“ellefolket “) lived in elf thickets (“ellekrattet”) is due to popular etymology based on a similarity in sound. between two words originally quite different. The same similarity led Herder to render “ellekonge,” in the Danish ballad Elveskud, into German as “Erlkönig”; thence the word passed on into Goethe’s famous ballad.

289 THE PLAINS OF IDA — VALHALLA — YGGDRASIL Page 5, line 21 — Vingolf in all probability means “friend-floor,” “friend-hall,” from vinr, “friend.” Although Vingolf was the domain of the goddesses, the Heroes received entertainment there. Valhalla comes from valr, i.e., “the men who lie slain on the field of battle.” Einherjar (the Heroes) is connected with herr, “army,” and means “eminent, excellent warriors.” Bifrost means “quivering roadway,” rost being “way.” Page 7, line 3 — The ash Yggdrasil is a symbol of the structure of the entire universe, which is at once illimitable in extent and closely conjoined. The warfare of Evil against Good and against the whole of Creation is represented by the serpent Nidhogg (that is, “he who strikes with malice, with bitter enmity or spite”), and the continual flux and transitoriness of created things find an emblem in the ever-perishing tree. So run the verses of Grímnismál: “Yggdrasil’s ash is afflicted, no man knows how sorely; the stag crops its crown, the trunk rots away, Nidhogg gnaws at the root.” Scholars have long suspected that the Yggdrasil myth has come under the influence of Christianity. They have pointed to a series of strophes in the Hávamál, where the following words, among others, have been ascribed to Odin: “I know that I hung on the wind-swept tree for three full nights, pierced with a spear, and dedicated to Odin; I to myself, on the tree whereof no man can tell from the roots of what tree it springs” (strophe 138). Here the reference is plainly to “Ygg-drasill,” that is, Odin’s (Ygg’s) horse, a poetical paraphrase for the gallows (cf. “Hagbard’s horse” = the gallows, p. 231 and note.) Odin on the gallows, so the argument proceeds, corresponds to Christ on the cross. For this opinion Sophus Bugge has endeavored to present conclusive proofs in his famous Studier ever de nordiske Gude- og Helte-Sagns Oprindelse (1881-89); and students of folklore have definitely allied themselves with Bugge inasmuch as they have extended the limits of the enquiry, and have brought forward and systematized a mass of fresh materials; see Kaarle Krohn, Skandinavisk mytologi, p. 105 ff. Yet the scholars who derive the myth of Odin on the gallows from the story of Christ on the cross, and Yggdrasil’s ash from the cross as the tree of life, have at the same time maintained that ancient pagan faith and cult had become ingrained in the Norse myth. This point will be more fully discussed in the following section dealing with Odin.

290 ODIN Page 10, line 18 — Snorri says (Ynglinga Saga, chapter 6) of Odin that his aspect was as terrifying to his enemies as it was blessed to his friends. Therefore according to the testimonies of Christian writers he appears as a crafty, malicious, old one-eyed man who was always busy with some mischief or other; they actually believed that Odin existed, and that after the introduction of Christianity he was the head and front of all devilry. Even those who worshipped the Æsir did not always think of Odin as magnanimous and gracious; occasionally they represented him as moody, cruel, unjust. Both the deity and his name were known among other peoples than the Northern; in Anglo-Saxon he is Wōden, and in Old German, Wuotan, Wōtan. The name doubtless is connected with Old Norse óðr, “raging,” and German wüten, “to rage.” This designation presents him as a god of death riding through storm at the head of the “raging army” (German, wütendes Heer) of the dead. Cf., among others, A. Olrik, Dania VIII, p. 139 (Odinsjœgeren i Jylland). — On the comparatively late introduction of the cult of Odin into the North, see particularly, Henry Petersen’s fundamental work cited above, note to p. 4. On the worship of Odin itself, see, among others, Chadwick, The Cult of Othin (London 1899). Among the ancient Germans, Odin is mentioned also under the Latin appellation Mercurius, with whom he had in common the function of being captain of the dead. Corresponding to the day of Mercury (French mercredi) we thus find Old German Wõdenestag, Anglo-Saxon Wōdnesdœg (English Wednesday), Old Norse Óðinsdagr (Modern Norw. onsdag). This day, however, in Norway was formerly sometimes called miðvikudagr (“midweek-day”), whence in Norwegian dialects mekedag, møkedag. On Odin as the god of poetry, see p. 99 (on the skaldic mead). Odin was also the god of sorcery and runic magic, as we know especially from the magic formulas of the Hávamál; on these in particular Snorri drew for his account of Odin in the Ynglinga Saga, chapter 6 f. THOR Page 12, line 18 — The name Thor is not, as the verbal similarity might seem to indicate, derived from þora, “to dare,” but is a contracted form of the Germanic word for “thunder,” Old German

291 donar (now Donner), and Anglo-Saxon þunor. In both of these languages the word is known both as the name for a god and as a designation for thunder. On the form of the word itself (early *þunra-, rather than *þunara-) see Hj. Lindroth, Namn och Bygd IV (1916), p. 161 ff. As the god of strength, Thor is the father of þrúðr, originally a word meaning “strength” (cf. the son’s name, Magni, as compared with megin, “might”), and so rules over Thrudvang or Thrudheim. — Ake-Tor is the correct form in Modern Norwegian; “Auka-Tor,” as some would have it, gives no sense. — References to literature dealing with Thor will be cited in the notes to the several myths dealing with Thor (pp. 56-78). Just as Odin corresponds to the Mercurius of the Romans, so Thor corresponds to Jupiter. Thence þórsdagr, Thursday (Old German, Donarestac, Modern German Donnerstag, Anglo-Saxon þunresdœg, English Thursday), = “Jupiter’s day” (French jeudi). As the enemy of the Trolls, legendary folklore first substituted for Thor Olaf Tryggvason and later his successor, Saint Olaf. Cf. K. Liestøl, Norske trollvisor og norrøne sogor (Christiania 1915), p. 45 ff. BALDER Page 13, line 8 — Balder is no doubt the same word as Anglo-Saxon bealdor, “lord,” “prince.” The name of the god has entered into the composition of the name of a plant: balder (s)brå (i.e., “Balder’s eyelash”), pyrethrum inodorum. On this point Snorri’s Edda contains the statement: “A plant, the whitest of all, has been likened to Balder’s eyelashes.” NJORD Page 14, line 29 — Noatun means “ship-yard,” and Thrymheim means “storm-home.” — For further information on the cult of Njord, see note to p. 16. FREY Page 16, line 24 — Frey means literally “he who is foremost,” “the lord” (cf. Gothic, frauja, “lord”), and thus at first was not really the name of a god. His cult shows great similarity to the worship of Njord (Nerþuz), concerning which antiquity has brought evidence from the hand of the historian Tacitus. In the

292 Germania (chapter 40), he gives the following account of seven small confederated tribes on the peninsula of Jutland: “These people join together in the common worship of Nerthus, that is, mother earth (Terram matrem), who they believe takes part in the migrations of men. On an island in the sea there is an uncontaminated grove, within which stands a consecrated wagon, covered with a pall. The priest alone is permitted to touch it. He perceives on which occasions the goddess is present in her sacred concealment (that is, the wagon); and when she sets in motion the vehicle, which is drawn by cattle, he escorts her with the most profound veneration. These are seasons of gladness, during which festivals are held at such places as she honors with her sojourn; men do not go to war or even so much as take a weapon in their hands; all things made of iron lie hidden under lock and key; quiet and peace are then the only aims of desire, until such a time as the goddess no longer wishes to visit the children of men, and the priest accordingly brings her back to the hallowed spot. Thereupon the wagon and the palls and — if such a thing be susceptible of belief — the goddess herself, are bathed in a secret lake. This service is performed by thralls, whom the water immediately swallows up. Hence come the mysterious fears and the devout uncertainties regarding that something which no man is permitted to see until he knows his death to be at hand.” Reminiscences of a similar worship of Frey are to be found in the romantic story of Gunnar Helming in the Flatey Book (I, 338) Men believed that the image of Frey was alive; and a young and fair woman was dedicated to the god as his priestess and given the title of his “wife.” With her the god actually led a wedded life. She ruled, together with Frey, over the temple and all that appertained to it. During the winter Frey, dressed in the habiliments of men, rode in his wagon through the several parishes; the priestess accompanied him, and he was everywhere received as a welcome guest. Frey and his priestess — like Nerthus and her priest — represented the fertility of nature; wherever they appeared, good weather and bountiful harvests followed in their train. (In still a third source the wagon is to be met with; see just below). Even in more recent popular customs the pagan pair, deities of fruitfulness, have maintained their ancient prerogatives: the fructifying power of Spring is personified in various ways, as a

293 young birch decked with wreaths and with feminine apparel, as a young girl crowned with a chaplet of leaves, as a young boy (cf. the “May-Count” in Denmark), or finally as a “May bride and groom” (cf. the “St. John’s Bride” of certain localities in Norway). As before mentioned, Frey is also called Yngvi, Yngvifreyr (more correctly Ingv-), and Ingunarfreyr. With these names may be compared Ing in a verse from the Anglo-Saxon: “Ing was first seen of men among the East-Danes, until later when he shaped his course eastward over the waters, and the wagon rolled in his wake.” Just as many given names have been formed from Frey (Frøidis, Frøistein, etc.), so the element Ing (v)- is discoverable in numerous names, such as Ingeborg (Ingibjorg), Yngvild, Inge, Inga, and the like. In the saga of Rafnkel, Priest of Frey, occurs the story of the horse consecrated to Frey, named Frey’s-Mane. Rafnkel had forbidden others to ride the horse; a manservant who defied the prohibition paid for his disobedience with his life. A kind of worship of horses, of which evidence presents itself in the Volsa þáttr (in the saga of Olaf the Saint, Flatey Book II, 331 ff.) no doubt has a close connection with the god of fruitfulness, Frey. Volsi, who here appears as the symbol of fecundity, is strongly reminiscent of the ancient Graeco-Roman cult of Priapus. On the worship of the wedded divinities of fertility, see, among others, K. Krohn, Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen IV, p. 231 ff. Cf. A. Olrik, Danske studier 1907, p. 62 ff.; M. Olsen, Maal og Minne 1909, p. 17 ff., Det gamle norske ønavn Njarðarlog (Kristiania Videnskabsselskabs forhandlinger 1905), Hœrnavi (ibid. 1908); Lundberg and Sperber, Hœrnavi (Uppsala 1912); A. Olrik, Danmarks heltedigtning II (Copenhagen 1910), p. 249 ff. The basic work on the lower divinities of fertility is Wilh. Mannhardt’s Wald- und Feldkulte I-II, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1904-05). A number of such lower beings have been incorporated in, or have been collected about, the gods of fruitfulness; an example is Frey’s servant, Byggvir (p. 87), originally a supernatural being whose special function was watching over the growth of barley (cf. M. Olsen, Hedenske kultminder i norske stedsnavne I, 1915, p. 106 f.). Another instance is that of Roskva, the girl who served as hand maid to Thor (note to p. 65). It should also be remembered that the Elves have a close connection with Frey; on p. 43 the

294 Elves are reckoned among the great troop of lower divinities who bear the common title of Sprites. In other cases the servant of a god may be endowed with a name which really seems to have been a sobriquet of the god himself. So Skírnir (from the adjective skírr, “shining”) was no doubt thought of as originally a name for Frey, “who directed the beams of the sun” (Snorri). TYR Page 17, line 9 — Toward the close of the pagan era, the worship of Tyr had fallen off very much, particularly because Odin had become the god of War. In earlier times Tyr doubtless held, among several of the Germanic peoples, the eminence as supreme deity; his name also is known from Old German, Zio, and from Anglo-Saxon, Tīw, Tīg. This name at first appears to have expressed the very idea of divinity. There exists, as a matter of fact, a plural of Týr, — namely tívar — which in the ancient poetic phraseology is used as a common noun meaning “gods” (for instance, valtívar, gods of battle; and in the singular, Hangatýr, “The God of Hanged Men,” and Sigtýr (p. 8), which has come to be a name for Odin. A parallel case is Latin divus, “divine”; and both the Germanic and the Latin words have entered into the formation of a common Indo-European word for “heaven” and for “heavenly god,” — Sanskrit Dyāus, Greek Zeus (from *Djeus), Latin Jupiter, genitive Jovis (from *Djov-, with the addition pater, “father”). Tyr has given his name to one of the days of the week: Tý(r)sdagr, “Tuesday,” Old German Ziestac, Anglo-Saxon Tīwesdœg (English Tuesday). This word is formed after the model of the Latin Martis dies (the day of Mars, God of War), French mardi. On the occurrence of Tyr in place names, see § 86 of the Norwegian original. HEIMDAL Page 18, line 5 — Heimdal is also called Heimdollr (gen. dallar). On the origin of the name, see E. Hellquist, Arkiv för nordisk filologi VII, p. 171 f. The Prose Edda contains references to various legends about him; but many of these are to us nothing but dark sayings. The skalds sometimes call him

295 “Loki’s enemy” or him “who seeks the jewel of Freyja” (cf. p. 79). Heimdal’s head is called “sword”; the story runs that he was pierced through with the head of a man; with this subject is concerned the lay of Heimdallsgalder, according to which the head is designated as “Heimdal’s death.” Heimdal is the master of Goldtop; he is also the one who “shapes his course for Vågaskjaer and Singastein,” where he fought with Loki for the Necklace of the Brisings; another name for him is Vindle. Ulf Uggason in the Húsdrápa made many verses on the subject of this story, according to which the two contestants were transformed into seals. Heimdal’s nine mothers are mentioned by name in the Eddic poem, Hyndluljóð, as follows: Gjalp, Greip, Eistla, Eyrgjafa, Ulfrun, Angeyja, Imd, Atla, and Jarnsaxa. In the so-called “Saga-Fragment” which deals with Ivar Vidfadmir and Harold Hilditonn, king Gudrœd, Ivar’s paternal uncle and Ingjald Illradi’s son-in-law, is compared to Heimdal, who is here designated as the most stupid of the Æsir (Fornaldar Sogur I, 373). Curiously enough, a ram is sometimes called “Hallinskidi,” for what reason has not been explained. BRAGI Page 18, line 12 — The statement in Snorri’s Edda according to which poesy has received the title bragr after the name of the god, is based on a misapprehension. The truth of the matter is just the reverse; the ancient language has a word bragr which means not only “minstrelsy,” “poetry,” but also “the foremost” (for instance, bragr ása, “the foremost of the Æsir,” bragr kvenna, “supreme among women”). How the relationship between the god Bragi and the earliest named skald, Bragi Boddason, is to be understood, is a moot question. Sufficient grounds have not been advanced for the opinion that the god in reality is nothing more than the human poet elevated to rank among the gods. There are various statements in literature to the effect that at banquets it was a custom to drain a beaker, bragarfull (also, but less correctly, bragafull), and in so doing to make a solemn promise to perform some deed of note. This word is not derived from the god name Bragi but from the common noun bragr; accordingly, this was the beaker of him who was foremost (a hero-beaker).

296 FORSETI Page 18, line 20 — Forseti literally means “he who has the first seat” (in a tribunal). The name is much like the name of a Frisian divinity, Fosite, which occurs, for example, in the combination Fositesland (Helgoland), and various scholars have supposed that Forseti is a relatively late adaptation of this foreign name. HOD — VALI — VIDAR — ULL Page 19, line 20 — Hod is originally an ancient term for war or battle; it is found in masculine names among the various Germanic peoples (Old Norse Hoðbroddr; Old German Hadubrand, Haduberht; Anglo-Saxon Heaðubrond, Heaðubeorht, etc.). On Vali’s mother Rind, seep. 95. There also appears the story of how Odin got his son Vali. Ullr is the same word as Gothic wulþus, “glory.” The name no doubt designates him as an ancient god of the heavens; perhaps he was at first identical with Tyr. Place names indicate that the worship of him was general.1 The name of his dwelling, Ydalir (i.e., “yew-dales”), harmonizes well with the attribution to him of skill as a bowman; bows were frequently made of yew, and the term for yew (ýr, from *iwa-, Anglo-Saxon īw, ēow, English yew; of. German Eibe) is often found in our ancient literature as a designation for the bow. HŒNIR — LODUR Page 21, line 5 — In a Faroese lay (Lokka Táttur), published by V. U. Hammershaimb in his Fœrøiske Kvœder I, 1851, p. 140 ff., Hœnir is mentioned together with Odin and Loki; he is here called the master of the swans. Likewise he appears with Odin and Loki in the story of Thjazi (p. 53) and in the story of Oter, brother of Regin the Smith (p. 169). All this may mean that Lodur, who is referred to in connection with Odin and Hœnir, is only another name for Loki. LOKI AND HIS CHILDREN Page 25, line 7 — Loki was a sort of counterpart of the devil of Christendom. Sophus Bugge therefore has supposed that this figure shows the influence of Christian ideas (Loki, from the devil’s 1 See § 86 of the Norwegian original.

297 name, Lucifer). Axel Olrik (in the Festskrift til Feilberg [=Meal og Minne 1911] p. 548 ff.) has examined the problem of Loki from other angles, among them that of folklore, since later popular beliefs have preserved reminiscences of a nature divinity named Loki (in sputtering flames, in atmospheric heat waves, and the like; cf. note to p. 37). With reference to higher mythmaking, he distinguishes between Loki as the associate of Odin (“Odins-Loke”), Loki as the companion of Thor (“Tors-Loke”) and Loki as the devil of the Æsir faith (“den onde Loke”); but traces survive which point back to a mythical paternal character, a benefactor of men who spreads the benefits of culture, a sort of Prometheus (the inventor of the fish-net, cf. p. 92, and the fire-bringer, Olrik’s explanation of the myth of the Necklace of the Brisings, p. 79). Most of the names of Loki’s relations are difficult to explain. E. N. Setälä (Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen XII, 1912, p. 210 ff.) has contributed toward a solution by references to Finnish legendary materials which he ascribes to loans from Northern myths; cf. also A. Olrik, Danske studier 1912, p. 95 ff. Certainly the name Angerboda may be interpreted as “she who ‘bodes,’ warns of, misfortune or sorrow.” Jormungand is “the mighty staff”; more common is the term Midgard Serpent, which no doubt is to be considered the original name of the monster. The designations for material objects connected with the myth of the Fenris Wolf are no easier to explain; moreover, these names are not identical in the various manuscripts of Snorri’s Edda. In, the Gylfaginning (Snorri’s Edda I, 106 ff.) mention is made not only of Gleipnir, but of the two links that were broken, here called Lœðingr and Drómi. Here occur also the designations Lyngvi (an island) and Ámsvartnir (a lake). Furthermore, there is a reference to Gelgja, a rope attached to the chain; this rope is thrust through a slab of rock, Gjoll, while over the slab lies the stone þviti. Finally, the name of the river formed from the slaver of the Wolf is recorded by name, Ván (after it Fenrir is sometimes called Vánargandr). — In one of the manuscripts (Snorri’s Edda II, 431) occurs a somewhat different terminology and also several other names than those listed above: Síglitnir, a barrow or hillock on Lyngvi; Gnjoll, the hole in the stone þviti, to which the Wolf is bound; through this hole is drawn the rope Hrœða, while Gelgja is the bar or stake that is placed before the hole. Here are mentioned also two rivers that run from the

298 mouth of the Wolf, namely Ván (“hope”) and Víl (“despair”). The legendary motive used in the story of the Æsir’s stronghold and its builder is well known. It is localized, among other places, in a large number of churches (the cathedrals of Lund and Throndhjem, etc.); and the reward may be, for instance, the sun or the moon or a person’s soul, and the builder may be the devil or a Giant. See C. W. von Sydow, Studier i Finnsägnen och besläktade byggmästarsägner (Fataburen 1907, p. 65 ff., 199 ff., 1908 p. 19 ff.). HERMOD — SKIRNIR Page 25, line 19 — The name Skirnir is formed from the adjective skírr, “sheer,” “shining.” The term was originally probably a cognomen for Frey himself (cf. note top. 16). Hermod (Hermóðr) means “he who is brave in battle.” THE GODDESSES — FRIGG – JORD — FREYJA Page 27, line 29 — Frigg was known also among the Germans. Thus the historian of the Longobards, Paulus Diaconus, gives us to understand that this people worshipped Odin’s wife by the name of Frea (more correctly Fria, which is to be met with elsewhere as the phonetic equivalent of Frigg). We read that when the Longobards at one time were making war upon the Vandals, Wodan promised the victory to that one of the contending tribes upon whom his eyes first fell at the rising of the sun. Gambara, the foremost woman among the Longobards, prayed Frea, Wodan’s wife, for aid; and Frea made answer advising the Longobard women to draw their hair down at both sides of their faces, bind it under their chins after the fashion of beards, and thus arrayed to take their station outside the casement through which Wodan was accustomed to look forth toward the East; so doing they would be certain to come within range of his vision. Wodan caught sight of them and asked, “Who are these Longbeards?” Whereupon Frea bade him keep his promise and award the victory to the Longobards (the “longbeards”; cf. German Bart). It is only Snorri who calls Frigg the daughter of Fjorgynn. He seems to have misunderstood a passage in the Eddie poem Lokasenna, in which Frigg is denominated Fjorgyns mœr, that is, “Fjorgyn’s maiden.” This expression is probably to be rendered “Fjorgyn’s beloved,” in which case Fjorgynn is a name for Odin.

299 Linguistically the name of the god, Fjorgynn, is closely related to the name of the goddess, Fjorgyn (mother of Thor) = Jord (Odin’s wife). The name of Thor’s mother is related to the Lithuanian Perkūnas, who like Thor, is a god of thunder. All this points to the probability that the supreme deity had an earth-goddess to wife; in other words, that Frigg originally was identical with Jord (Fjorgyn). It is a general opinion that the goddess name Fjorgyn was the more primitive, and that the god name Fjorgynn was a relatively late derivation from the other. Besides Fjorgyn, Thor’s mother also had the name Hloðyn (so understood by Finnur Jónsson; other scholars give it as Hlóðyn). According to Snorri’s Edda, Jord is the daughter of Anar, or Onar, and Night. Frigg (Old German Frîa, Frîja) has been connected with the verb frjá, “to love.” Her name thus designates her as the beloved of the supreme divinity, and so the same relationship appears here as that between the primal heaven-god Tyr and “Mother Earth” (Nerthus, Njord, see note to p. 16). These divine pairs are identical in nature, and with them is associated also a divine pair of whom the wife has been called Freyja. Freyja originally had the meaning “‘housewife,” “mistress”; the name has been formed from the word for “lord” which is known in the name of the god Frey (see note top. 16). It is thus not the word frue (housewife) which is derived from Freyja, as Snorri says; just the reverse is the case. In addition to Frigg and Freyja, we know from place names (Swedish Hœrnavi, that is Hœrn’s vi, or sanctuary) also a third feminine divinity, namely Horn (Hørn?), which according to Snorri is another name for Freyja. Possibly this name for a goddess is derived from the word for “flax” (horr), in which case we are concerned with a goddess of fertility who is designated after a particular function. These goddess names open for us a vista into most primitive conditions: The goddess of earth or of fertility is the only one of the feminine divinities who was the object of general, public worship. She was worshipped under a number of different designations, locally circumscribed in use. The situation was another with reference to the masculine divinities. They were more numerous, and they were more widely known in that the public worship of them was connected with central localities. The cult of Freyja was popular, if we may believe the evidence

300 of a large number of place names.1 She is regarded as a mighty goddess; like Odin she chooses those who are to fall and to come to her in Folkvang (that is, “the field of the warriors”), where she inhabits the hall Sessrymnir (“which has many seats”). Moreover, tradition relates that Freyja was a great sorceress; she practiced a lower form of sorcery (Modern Norw. seid), which was considered beneath the dignity of a man. The name Freyja does not occur outside the Northern countries. Among the Germans and the English the names corresponding to Freyja are Frîa, Frîg, the counterpart of the Venus of the Romans. Thence Old German Frîatac (our “Friday”), Anglo-Saxon Frîgedœg = Latin Veneris dies (French vendredi). As to the subordinate goddesses little information can be given. Hnoss and Gersemi are words well known in the ancient language, having the meaning “treasure,” “jewel.” Hlín occurs also as a name for Frigg herself. The name of Gna’s horse, Hófvarpnir, means “one who tosses his hoofs” (feet). Sjofn is connected with sefi and sjafni, “love.” Snorri explains Lofn as having to do with lof, “leave,” “permission,” because she permits the lovers to win each other; but the word has a closer relationship to Gothic lubains or with Old Norse ljúfr (German lieb), “dear.” SAGA — EIR — GEFJON — VAR — VOR — SYN — SNOTRA Page 29, line 14 — None of these goddesses seems to have been the object of independent worship, with the possible exception of Gefjon (see, as to her and her plowing, Axel Olrik’s article in Danske studier 1910, p. 1 ff.). The name Gefjon is connected with the verb gefa, “to give,” or even more closely with Gothic gabei, “riches,” gabeigs, “rich”; cf. Old Norse gofugr, “excellent,” in Norwegian dialects govug, “liberal.” Corresponding divinities have been pointed out as having been found among the Germans; in Latin inscriptions from the lower regions of the Rhine occur related names of goddesses: matronae Gabiae, Junones Gabiae. — The myth concerning Gefjon and the origin of Zealand and Mälaren is to be met with both in the Heimskringla (Ynglinga Saga, chapter 5) and in the introduction to Gylfaginning in Snorri’s Edda. In both of these passages occurs a quotation from 1 See § 86 of the Norwegian original. — Translator’s note.

301 a verse of Bragi the Old: “Gladly Gefjon drew the increase of Denmark (Zealand) from generous Gylfi, so that smoke rose from the swift-moving beasts of burden.” IDUN — NANNA — SIF Page 30, line 11 — Idunn is connected with ið-, “again”; she is the one who “renews,” “rejuvenates.” The myth concerning her apples seems to have been derived from the classic myth of the Apples of Hesperides; see Sophus Bugge, in Arkiv för nordisk filologi V, p. 1 ff. It is not certain whether traces of the cult of Idun are demonstrable in place names (cf. A. Olrik, Danske studier 1910, p. 23 ff., on the name of the Danish island Ithœnø, now Enø). Nanna, connected with nenna (Gothic nanþjan) is linguistically “the brave,” “the persevering.” Sif is the same as the common noun sif (see above), Gothic sibja, Anglo-Saxon sib, German Sippe (whence Sippschaft). In the Skáldskaparmál of Snorri’s Edda (I, 556) there is a list of the goddesses. Here are named Frigg, Freyja, Fulla, Snotra, Gerd, Gefjon, Gna, Lofn, Skadi, Jord, Idun, Ilm, Bil, “Njorun,” Lin, Nanna, Noss, Rind, Sjofn, Sun, Saga, Sigyn, Vor, Var, Syn, Thrud, and Ran. Two of the number, Ilm and Njorun, are not known otherwise except in skaldic paraphrases, which are not very enlightening. Ilm is more likely to be a Valkyrie than a goddess. THE NORNS Page 31, line 2 — The Norns are mentioned in countless passages in our ancient literature, and faith in them lingered long after the introduction of Christianity. Thus a runic inscription in the timber church at Borgund runs as follows: “The Norns have done both good and evil.” Of the Norns, according to Gylfaginning, there are, besides the three who are definitely named, also others, who come to each person at his birth, to determine his destiny. Some of them are of the race of the gods, others of the Elves, and others again of the Dwarfs. The very names of the three principal Norns designate their function as rulers of fate. Urðr (having close affinities with verða, “to take place”) is an ancient word for “fate,” to be found also in Old Saxon wurth and in Anglo-Saxon wyrd. Only at a

302 relatively late period, and only among our forefathers, have Verðandi (present participle of the verb verða) and Skuld (connected with skulu, “shall”; cf. skuld, “duty,” “obligation”) come into being to form a trinity representing past, present, and future. It is reasonable to assume that the three Parcœ of classic mythology have had something to do with this development. The word norn is frequently compared with Swedish dialectal norna, nyrna “to communicate in secret,” “to forewarn,” and with older English nyrnen, “to utter.” The word corresponds fairly to Vulgar Latin fata, “goddess of destiny,” which comes from Latin fatum, “fate,” more literally “that which is uttered” (whence French fée, which through the medium of fairy tales has come into German and into Norwegian: fe). FAMILIAR SPIRITS — ATTENDANT SPIRITS Page 32, line 6 — Hamingja really means: one who shows himself in a certain “shape” (hamr) or likeness different from his own; the fundamental word hamr may at times have the same signification. Sometimes the notion of external form is wholly set aside, so that the supernatural being may be called simply (a person’s) “idea” or thought (hugr). When the tutelary spirits of a given family were thought of as a group, the names kynfylgjur, œttarfylgjur (kyn, “kin,” “family”) were often used. At times these spirits would appear in dreams, as the so-called draumkonur. They might also be designated as spádísir (on dís, see p. 33), in which case the emphasis rested on their prophetic function. It was frequently the tutelary spirits of deceased relatives who thus revealed themselves to the living kindred; hence the mention of “departed women” (konur dauðar). — As instances of the belief in Attendant Spirits may be mentioned the following: The Icelander Einar Thveraing foretold the death of his powerful brother Gudmund on the basis of a dream; he had seen an immense ox pace up through the parish of Eyfjord to Gudmund’s farm and fall dead at the very high seat itself; this ox, said Einar, was the Attendant Spirit of some man or other (Ljósvetninga Saga, chapter 21). Harold Gormsson once sent a Finn in the likeness of a whale to Iceland to spy out the land with hostile intent, but he was driven away by the Land-Sprites who thronged all the mountains and mounds (cf. p. 42), and by the foremost chieftains’ Attendant Spirits: a bellowing bull, for Thord gellir (that is,

303 “the bellower”) in Breidafjord; a great bird with a large number of smaller birds, for Eyolf of Modruvellir in Eyfjord; a dragon, accompanied by serpents and toads, for Brodd-Helgi in Vapnafjord; a Cliff-Ettin armed with an iron staff, for Thorodd the Priest of the Southland (Heimskringla I, 316 ff.). THE VALKYRIES Page 33, line 27 — Ancient Norse literature contains many accounts of the Valkyries. In Njál’s Saga there is a picturesque story indicating the notions our forefathers entertained about the Valkyries as paganism was waning away. A farmer named Darrad, living in Caithness, Scotland, was said to have had a vision on the very day of Brian’s bloody battle at Dublin in the year 1014. Twelve women came riding through the air and disappeared in a mound; through an aperture the man peeped within and saw them weaving a web of human entrails, using a sword for a weaver’s beam and arrows for shuttles. They were singing meanwhile a song, the Song of Darrad (Darraðarljóð), which the saga recites at length. The saga further explains that they were weaving a web for the battle which was about to be fought; the struggle was to be sanguinary, a king was to be victorious, but another king and with him many great leaders were to fall. Among the women weavers mentioned by name are Hild, Hjorthrimul, Sangrid, and Svipul, all of them Valkyries. When they had finished their web, they tore it asunder, whereupon six of them rode off with the one piece toward the north and six with the other toward the south. — In Eyvind Skaldaspillir’s splendid verses on Hakon the Good (Hákonarmál) it is said that Odin sent forth the Valkyries Gondul and Skogul to choose which king was to be the guest of Odin. They rode away on horseback, armed with helmet, spear, and shield, found Hakon, and conveyed him to Valhalla. — Warfare and battle had numerous designations after the Valkyries; “Hild’s Game” is especially common. The name Hild is still used, alone: and in a large number of combinations, such as Ragnhild (from ragn or regin, “the ruling powers”; see p. 6); Gunnhild (from gunnr, “battle”); Alfhild (from alfr, “elf”); and others. The word dís also is very common in feminine names, such as Halldis, Herdis, Hjordis, Thordis, and the like. — The legend of Thidrandi, son of Sidu-Hall (Fornmanna Sögur II, 192 ff.) informs us how different, mutually hostile Disir

304 might be attached to certain families. A short time before the introduction of Christianity into Iceland, a promising youth named Thidrandi, contrary to the prohibition of the sorcerer Thorhall, went out after a winter night’s merrymaking to see who had knocked at the door; thrice he had heard knocking at the door after the inmates of the house had lain down to sleep. Thidrandi saw nine women dressed in black come riding out from the north and other nine, dressed in white and mounted on white horses, riding up from the south; the sable-clad women bore in upon him and left him lying wounded to the death. He was discovered outside the door in the morning; and before he died, he told what he had seen. Thorhall interpreted the vision as portending a change in the ancient faith of the fathers. Both bands of women, so he read the tokens, were Disir, familiars of the household; but those garbed in black had loved the olden faith, now inclining to its fall, and had willed to demand a sacrifice or a tribute from the household before they parted from it forever. The women in white, on the contrary, were to remain alone as Disir of the family under the new dispensation; and these had sought in vain to keep the young man from harm. (In this legend are employed both the terms fylgjur and dísir; cf. p. 31 and note, and note to p. 47). Of the literature on the Disir may be mentioned the following titles: L. Levander, Antikvarisk Tidskrift för Sverige XVIII, no. 3; M. Olsen, Hedenske kultminder I, p. 184 ff.; K. F. Johansson, Skrifter utgifna af K. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala XX, no. 1. The most complete catalog of Valkyries is to be found in Snorri’s Edda II, 490: “Hrist, Mist, Herja, Hlokk, Geiravor, Goll, Hjorþrimul, Guðr [Gunnr], Herfjotur, Skuld, Geironul, Skogul ok Randgníð , Ráðgríð, Gondul, Svipul, Geirskogul, Hildr ok Skeggold, Hrund, Geirdriful, Randgríðr ok prúðr, Reginleif ok Sveið, þogn, Hjalmþrimul, þrima ok Skalmold.” THORGERD HŒLGABRUD AND IRPA Page 34, line 20 — The account in ancient sources of a temple erected to Thorgerd by Earl Hakon at Lade may have an historical foundation; but there is probably no solid historical basis for the description of the temple and the image of the goddess as it is found in Sigmund Brestesson’s Saga. The like is the case with the

305 story in Njál’s Saga concerning a temple which Earl Hakon is supposed to have had together with Dale-Gudbrand: here we have Thor sitting in his chariot, Thorgerd wearing a head kerchief, and with them Irpa, all of them adorned with arm rings of gold. — In the naval battle against the Joins-Vikings, Earl Hakon went ashore and sacrificed to Thorgerd his own son Erling. Whereupon she sent down from the north — the home of the Trolls — a terrific hailstorm accompanied by thunder and lightning; those among the enemy who were gifted with second sight then saw on board of the Earl’s ship first a Troll, and thereafter two (Thorgerd and Irpa) engaged in hurling a shower of arrows, “as if an arrow were flying from each finger,” against the Joms-Vikings; who then, and not until then, fled the field. (Here we meet with notions of the same kind as those which have given occasion for the discussion of the divinities mentioned in the paragraph next below). — Cf. Gustav Storm’s article, Om Thorgerd Hølgebrud, in Arkiv för nordisk filologi II, p. 124 ff.; K. Liestøl, Norske trollvisor, p. 48 ff. THE FORCES OF NATURE — ÆGIR Page 37, line 3 — Ægir is originally an old word for “sea,” connected with Gothic ahwa, Old Norse á, “river”; cf. the ancient name of the river Eider, Egidora, Old Norse Ægisdyr (“the door to the sea”). Ægir was also called Gymir, and the sounding of the waves “Gymir’s Song.” Hence we read in Thjodolf’s lay on that king Yngvar who was buried in a mound on the shores of Estland: “The East Sea sings Gymir’s song to pleasure the Swedish king.” — The names of Ægir’s daughters were Himinglæfa (“the translucent one who mirrors the heavens”), Dufa (“one who pitches or dips”), Blodughadda (“the bloody-haired”), Hefring, Unn, Ronn (Hronn), Bylgja, Drofn (this word and the one preceding are different names for “wave”), and Kolga (“the coal-black”). (Snorri’s Edda II, 493.) Of Fornjot and his kindred we read in the legendary works, Hversu Noregr bygðist and Fundinn Noregr (Flatey Book I, 21 ff.; 219 ff.). Here Thorri, king of Finland and Kvænland, has three children: the sons Nor and Gor and the daughter Goe. Goe is stolen away, and the brothers go out to hunt for her. Gor goes by sea along the coast of Norway, and Nor goes by land. In this way Norway came to be discovered and inhabited, both the coast

306 with its islands and the interior. Goe proved to have been carried off by Rolf of Berg (in Hedemark), son of the Giant Svadi (cf. Svaðubú, a part of the Ringsaker of our day). After Thorri, we read further, our fathers called the first month of winter Thorri, and the following month Goe, after Goe (Gjø); this is the reason why our almanacs long carried the headings “January or Thor’s Month” and “February or Goe’s Month.” A piece of childish doggerel runs as follows: Torren med sit skjegg lokkar borni under sole-vegg. Gjø’i med sitt skinn lokkar [eller: jagar] borni inn. Thor with the beard Calls children to the sunny wall. Goe with the pelts Calls [or: chases] children in. The meaning seems to be that during Thor’s Month there was hard frost and sunshine, while during Goe’s Month heavy weather and snowstorms were common. Cf. S. Bugge, Arkiv för nordisk filologi IV, p. 126. — It is a moot question what Fornjot really means (cf. E. Hellquist, Arkiv XIX, p. 134 f.). If it was a word for “giant,” it may be explained as signifying “the consuming one,” “the destroyer”; cf. Old High German fir-niozan, “to consume.” The same mythical name seems to be found in the Anglo-Saxon Forneotes folme, “Fornjot’s hand.” There are indications that Loki has med certain qualities of a fire being (cf. note to p. 25); in Iceland, chips and refuse are still called Loka-spœnir, “Loki’s chips”; Loka-daunn, “Loki’s vapor,” is a term for subterranean sulphur fumes. In Norway, when flames crackle, it is said that Loki is whipping his children. Eldir means: “he who kindles fire”; Fimafengr; “he who is clever at providing ways and means.” NIGHT — DAY Page 37, line 23 — Night drives before Day because our forefathers were in the habit of beginning the twenty-four hours with the might. Therefore they also invariably reckoned time by nights, not as we do now, by days. When a person had sojourned somewhere six days, he would say, “I have been there six nights.”

307 HEL Page 39, line 4 — Hel is a very old word for the kingdom of death, the nether world (Gothic halja, Old High German hella, Anglo-Saxon hell). Related words expressing the same thing appear to occur far outside of the boundaries of the Germanic languages; cf. E. N. Setälä, Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen XII (1912), p. 170 ff., and H. Güntert, Kalypso (Halle 1919). — It is, however, only among the inhabitants of the Scandinavian North that we find the Germanic word for the realm of death used for the personification of that realm: the feminine ruler of the kingdom of the dead. — A word into the composition of which Hel enters is helvíti, “hell,” literally: “punishment (víti) in the nether world”; Old High German, hellawîzi; Anglo-Saxon, hellewīte. THE GIANTS Page 41, line 3 — Various Giant women were said to have ridden on the backs of wolves, for which reason the skalds sometimes refer to the wolf as the “Dark-Riders’ horse.” — In the ancient Eddie poem dealing with Helgi Hjorvardsson we learn of a Giantess who turned into stone at the rising of the sun. Helgi and his shipmate Atli craftily detained her in talk until morning; as the sun rose, Atli said: “Look to the East, Rimgerd, and see if Helgi has not struck you with death-runes ... Now day is risen, and Atli has made you tarry and has put an end to your life; a laughable sea-mark you seem, standing there in the figure of a stone.” — A similar story is told of the voyage of king Olaf during which he created the sound lying between Hornelen, on Bremanger, and Marøy. The king bade the cliff cleave asunder; just then a Giant woman came forward and called out to him: “Tell me, man with the white beard, why you split my rocky wall in twain?” Olaf answered: “Stand there, Troll, always in atone; and no man more shall make his moan!” And it happened according to his word: a figure of stone stands there to this day. — Many legends relate how a Mountain-Troll, pursuing a human being, is overtaken by the rays of the sun and turned to stone. Other legends deal with Trolls who have made compacts with Olaf to build churches, just as in the case of the owner of Svadilfari (see p. 24 and note to p. 25). On the warfare of the Giants against one another and against

308 Christendom, legends are to be found in almost every parish; as examples may be mentioned the story from Gudbrandsdalen of Jutulberget and Vågå church, and from Ringerike of Gyvrihaugen. The Giants are so firmly established in the credence of the people that the legends connected with them cannot easily perish; they belong, with the Brownie, the Huldre, and the Nix, to that group of supernatural beings with which the countryman in Norway, even down to the present day, has believed himself surrounded. In very recent times new legends have sprung up, after the fashion of the older. See, for instance, in Asbjørnsen’s Huldreeventyr, The Jutul and Johannes Blessom, and others of a similar tenor. As was the case with Ginnunga-gap, so Jotunheim was removed to greater and greater distances according as the geographical knowledge of the Northern regions increased among our ancestors. Moreover, influences emanating from southern legends of the felicity of the Hyperboreans, or Dwellers in the Uttermost North, no doubt contributed toward placing the home of the Giants in vaguely remote confines; in the imagination of most people, Glæsisvoll and the neighboring Udainsaker (the Land of the Immortals) took the form of an earthly Paradise, where men were permitted to live in eternal bliss. Among the Roman stories of the Hyperboreans there is one to the effect that those who became sated with living, ended their days by throwing themselves over the edge of a high mountain. Something of the same kind is to be found in a romantic Norse saga (Gautrek’s Saga), in which however the scene is not the same; according to this story there is in Götaland a beetling cliff, Ætternisstape (“the ancestral crag”), where the ancients sought death by hurling themselves down from the summit. According to Kaarle Krohn (Skandinavisk mytologi, p. 58 ff.), the original notion of the Giants was that they were primeval folk who had taken refuge in the waste places of the land. They are different from the lower orders of the spirit world, the Sprites (vettir, p. 42), in that the Giants received no sacrifices. Nor were they originally among the beings who lived and moved in the darkness of the Yuletide season; see Liestøl’s article, cited above, note to p. 4. On the more or less close identification of the Giants with natural forces, see C. W. von Sydow’s article mentioned in the same connection.

309 THE DWARFS Page 41, line 25 — Of the king of the Swedes, Svegdi, Snorri tells in the Ynglinga Saga that he was decoyed into a stone, from which he never emerged. So firmly fixed was the faith of the fathers in the actual presence of these beings within the mountain sides, that they designated the echo as dvergmáli, that is, “the speech of the Dwarfs.” In the romantic Bosa Saga (Fornaldar Sogur III, 222) occurs the line, “Sigurd played upon the harp so loudly that the speech of the Dwarfs resounded through the hall.” In several localities in Norway we find Dvergstein as the name for a farm,1 and P. A. Munch has pointed out that more than one mountain top bears the name “Dvergemål-kletten” (“Dwarf-speech-summit”). Among the chief examples of the work of Dwarf artisans may be mentioned the Necklace of the Brisings, Mjollnir, Gungnir, Draupnir, Sif’s golden hair, and the swords Tyrfing and Gram. The Norwegian word dverg is known also in Old German (twerc, German Zwerg) and in Anglo-Saxon (dweorg, English “dwarf”). A Dwarf woman was in old Norse called dyrgja. The connotation of the term is uncertain. THE VETTIR Page 47, line 27 — To the word vœttr corresponds the German Wicht, and German legends are much occupied with beings called Wichtlein, Wichtelmännchen. Here belongs also the well-known German word Bösewicht. In Anglo-Saxon the word was wiht, whence the English “wight,” a term occurring frequently in ballads. Originally the word vœttr and its variants had a more general meaning (e.g., “a thing”), a signification that still appears in ekkivœtta, in Modem Norwegian dialects ikkje (inkje) vetta, “nothing.” The compound, form (eit) godvette, “guardian spirit,” persists in present usage; in Nordland (ei) godvetter (-vetra) is practically equivalent to Huldre, “Hill-Lady.” (Mountain names such as Vettaåsen, Vettakollen are, on the other hand, to be connected with viti, “a beacon-fire.”) The notes to p. 32 record instances in which the Land-Sprites of Iceland and the Attendant Spirits of mighty chieftains join in the protection of the land against hostile strategems. In 1 See § 86 of the Norwegian original. — Translator’s note.

310 the story of the seer Thorhall and the kin of Sidu-Hall, of which an excerpt is given in the note to p. 33 occurs also the following account: One day shortly before the coming of Christianity Thorhall lay in his bed looking out through a window; he smiled, and his host, the powerful Sidu-Hall, one of the first men who accepted baptism, asked him what he was smiling at. Thorhall answered: “I am smiling to see many a mound opening up and all living beings, great and small, packing their belongings and moving elsewhere.” From these examples it is clear that there was no important distinction between the Vettir and Disir (Attendant Spirits) of the country and those of the individual family. The narrative of Egil Skallagrimsson and his libel-pole is of importance for the illustration of the ancient runic magic; see M. Olsen, Om troldruner (Fordomtima II, Uppsala 1917) p. 19 ff. (=Edda V, p. 235 ff.) — On procession days, cf. Joh. Th. Storaker, Tiden i den norske Folketro (Norsk Folkeminnelag II), Christiania 1921, p. 97. In certain localities, for example in Telemark, a distinction is made between Goblins or Hill-Goblins (tusser or haugtusser) and Jutuls; the Goblins are not larger than men, while the Jutuls are tall as mountains. The Vettir of this district are the same as the Hidden Folk; they are no larger than a child of ten, and dressed in gray clothing and black hats; their cattle are called huddekrœtur, “Huldre cattle,” and their dogs huddebikkjer; “Huldre curs.” The name of the Huldre or Hill-Lady, huldr, probably comes from at hylja, “to hide,” “to cover.” The Germans are conversant with a somewhat similar being, Holle, Frau Holle, Mutter Holle or Holde, whose name appears at an early period to have been associated with the adjective hold, Old Norse hour, “kind,” “amiable,” “friendly.” Frau Holle sometimes takes the role of a severe and industrious spinner, who rewards the diligent and punishes the indolent; but usually she is described as having a hideous appearance and as riding about in the company of witches. Our Huldre, on the contrary, bears a name which linguistically has always been kept distinct from the adjective hollr. — In the Sturlunga Saga (Kålund’s edition, II, 325) we read of a Huldar Saga (“of a great Troll woman”) which the Icelander Sturla Tordsson told to king Magnus Lawmender and his queen; this saga is no longer extant. Cf. K. Maurer, Abhandlungen der königlichen bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften I Cl. XX, 1, 2. In Denmark, popular belief is concerned more particularly with

311 Elves, and in Norway with the Hidden Folk (cf. note to p. 4). Both classes of beings show a decided preference for the alder and for the twigs of the alder, perhaps through association with the name, since hulder is like older, just as the Danish word ellefolk (“elves”) approaches in sound the Danish name for the alder: elle. The Nix (nykr) is called in Swedish necken and also strömkarlen (“the man of the stream”), who no doubt comes nearest to the Norwegian fossegrimen (“the water-sprite”). In German the Nix is called Der Nix, Nickel, Nickelmann; the Nix woman is called Nixe, Wassernixe. The Nix is said to apportion his instruction according to the gifts he receives. One who gives him bread he teaches to tune the fiddle; but one who gives him a ram he teaches to play perfectly. Of several peculiar, wild melodies it is told that the Nix has taught them to the fiddlers. In older times people also imagined the Nix as having the form of a dapple-gray horse; now and then he would come forth from the water, and it even happened that he permitted himself to be used for some work or other during the day. Concerning the prophecies of Mermen or Mermaids, various legends have been current, such for example as the one in Half’s Saga about the Merman who exercised his gift of prophecy for king Hjorleif the Woman-Lover (p. 252). Formed in the same manner as marmennill “merman” from marr, “sea” and maðr, “man”) is the Old High German merimanni, “mermaid.” As early as the period of Old High German this word took the form meriminni (minni means “love,” “the beloved,” and in the language of children, “mother”). From the German comes the Danish mareminde, a word which later was erroneously applied to the Nightmare. According to the description in the King’s Mirror, the Mermaid (margýgr) is not beautiful and winsome as Mermaids are usually represented; to be sure, she is a woman above the middle and a fish below the middle, but her hands are large and webbed between the fingers, and her features have a terrifying aspect, with sharp eyes, broad forehead, large mouth, and wrinkled cheeks. She makes her appearance only as a harbinger of great storms. On such occasions she emerges above the water holding fishes in her hands. If she eats the fishes or throws them in a direction away from the ship, the sailors have hopes of weathering the storm; but if she plays with them or tosses them toward the ship, the signs indicate misfortune.

312 With the Brownie may be compared the German Kobold, who also is a kind and good-natured domestic fairy dressed in a red cap; further, the English Puck or Robin Goodfellow. The Swedes do not use the name Nisse but tomtegubbe, tomtekarl, “brownie”; in Norwegian occur the similar terms: tuftekall, tomtegubbe (tomtvette, tuftvette), sometimes shortened to tufte, tomte. The notions on which these designations are based may be illustrated by corresponding terms current in western Norway: tunvord (tunkall), gardvord, (“the guardian of the yard or the farm”). Nisse is really a diminutive pet name for Nils (Nicolaus). This relatively modern designation has come to Norway from Germany, where Nicolaus, Niclas, Nickel, Klaus are used to denote a being who appears in disguise on St. Nicholas’ Day (December 6) to distribute rewards or punishments to children; it is also used of a little imp. In German the Nightmare is called Alp, the same word as Norwegian alv. In many countries legends prevail concerning people who were able to show themselves in a guise different from their own natural shape. We shall meet with several examples of this sort of thing in the Heroic Legends: Bodvar Bjarki fought at Rolf Kraki’s side in the likeness of a bear (p. 220); Sigmund and Sinfjotli cloaked themselves as wolves (p. 156); and Valkyries appeared in the semblance of swans (p. 126). German legend abounds with stories of beautiful maidens who turn into swans as soon as they put on an enchanted ring or belt. In like manner the Werewolves were able to assume their alien guise as wolves through the aid of ring or belt. The myths of the gods also have something to tell of such metamorphoses (Freyja’s feather-coat, p. 76); Odin above all others was skilled in the arts of transformation (Ynglinga Saga, chapter 7). All the various beings of Northern superstition who may be brought under the common designation of Vettir (Elves, Hidden Folk, Underground Folk, and the like) were, according to Kaarle Krohn, departed spirits who had become attached to certain localities (“localized spirits or sprites”); see his exhaustive array of evidence in Skandinavisk mytologi, p. 36 ff. One link in his argument has to do with the inability of these Vettir to beget children with each other. Radically different from such Vettir are the Giants, who according to Krohn were prehistoric men who had migrated into waste places.

313 THE HEROES AND LIFE OF VALHALLA Page 49, line 11 — “To visit Odin in Valhalla” was a common expression, meaning to fall in honorable combat. When champions challenged each other to an island duel to the death, they were in the habit of invoking for each other a journey to Valhalla (cf. p. 9, for the throwing of spears over the heads of a hostile army). When a warrior had fallen and had been laid in his barrow, he too was dedicated to Valhalla in the course of an oration delivered beside the grave. The saga recounts expressly such a ceremony in the case of Hakon Adelsteinsfostri’s burial. Many of the ancient lays bear witness to the reception accorded the Heroes by Odin in Valhalla. Of Helgi Hundingsbane we read that Odin took him into his counsels; and at once Helgi turned toward his quondam enemy Hunding and bade him do the service of a thrall: Thou shalt, Hunding, Wash the feet Of every man, Kindle the fire, Bind the dogs, Herd the horses, Give swine their swill, Ere thou sleepest. In the old lay on Erik Bloody-Axe, Eiríksmál, we learn that it was a matter of great moment for Odin to give Erik an honorable reception on his coming to Valhalla in the company of five other kings: What mean these dreams? (said Odin) I dreamed I rose before day dawned, To prepare Valhalla For fallen warriors; I woke the Heroes, Bade them arise, Strew the benches with straw, And scour the vessels; Bade Valkyries bear wine Meet for a prince. From the earth yonder I wait the corning Of highborn heroes; Glad now is my heart.

314 Bragi, seized with wonder at the clatter and commotion, guesses that it is Balder who is about to return to the halls of Odin. But Odin says that such talk is folly; the roads are already resounding with the advance of Erik’s company. Then Odin commands Sigmund and Sinfjotli to go out to meet the king. Bragi asks why Odin looks for Erik rather than for other kings. “Because he has harried so many lands and borne a bloody sword “, answers Odin. Yet Bragi has still more questions to ask: “Why did not Odin grant victory to such a warrior?” “It were safer for the gods to have such a hero in their own midst as a bulwark against the Fenris Wolf,” is Odin’s reply. Thereupon Erik is bidden welcome and invited to enter the hall. “Who are the princes that come with you from the battle?” “They are five kings — I name them all by name for you — I am myself the sixth.” With this speech ends the portion of the poem that has been preserved to our time. According to the Hákonarmál, a poem composed by Eyvind Skaldaspillir to the honor of Hakon Adelsteinsfostri, Odin sends the Valkyries Gondul and Skogul to choose from among the Yngling kings those who were to visit Odin. They see Hakon throw off his byrnie, fighting desperately; him they choose, and Gondul says: “Now the retinue of the gods will increase, since they have asked Hakon to join their company with a great army.” Hakon inquires of the Valkyries why the battle has taken such a turn: “We were surely worthy of the victory.” “It lay in our hands,” answered Skogul, “that you kept the field and that your enemies fled.” Now shall we ride, Quoth mighty Skogul, To the gods’ green home; We bring Odin tidings That soon the prince comes Himself to see him. Odin bids Hermod and Bragi go forth to meet him and invite him to enter. Bragi invests him with the rights that pertain to the Heroes and promises him sojourn in Valhalla: there await him eight brothers who have gone before him. All of our armor, Quoth the good king, We will hold in our keeping;

315 Helmet and byrnie No man lays aside; It is well to be ever ready. Further may be mentioned the Krákumál, a much later poem (from the 12th century) attributed to Ragnar Lodbrok. Ragnar recites the verses, celebrating one of his victories, in a den of serpents not long before his death. At the close we read: “I know that the benches of Balder’s father (Odin) always stand ready for the banquet; forthwith we shall drink ale from the horn; the hero will not bewail his death in magnificent Odin’s hall; I will not enter Odin’s home with words of fear on my lips. Now am I fain to end my lay; for the Disir (Valkyries) whom Odin has sent to me from Valhalla bid me come into his home, even to himself. Gladly shall I drink ale with the Æsir in the high seat; all hope of life has fled, and laughing I go toward death.” Vingolf is mentioned as the resort of Heroes in only one passage in Snorri’s Edda (I, 84); otherwise it is the hall of the goddesses. It is not mentioned at all in the Eddic Poems. Of the names for the rivers which according to Snorri’s Edda flow forth from the antlers of the hart, the greater number connote roaring or rapid streams, or cold or deep streams: Sid, Vid, Sœkin, Eikin, Svol, Gunntro, Fjorm, Fimbulthul, Gipul, Gopul, Gomul, Geirvimul, — all these run through the domain of the Æsir; the others are: Thyn, Vin, Tholl, Holl, Grad, Gunnthrain, Nyt, Not, Nonn, Ronn, Vina, Vegsvin, Thjodnuma. Grímnismál records still others by name. CORRUPTION Page 50, line 19 — Of the “three mighty Thursar maidens” nothing can be said with certainty; nor of Gullveig. There are conjectures pointing to the Norns and to a personification of the corrupting influence of gold. See Finnur Jónsson’s explanation of the connection between passages in the Voluspá, in his brochure, Vølu-spá, Vølvens spådom (Studier fra sprog- og oldtidsforskning. no. 84), Copenhagen 1911. THE RAPE OF IDUN Page 56, line 11 — The myth of Thjazi and Idun seems to have been widespread and well-known (cf. note to p. 76). The skalds sometimes refer to Idun as “Thjazi’s booty,” and to gold as the

316 “Giants’ mouth-reckoning” or as the “Giants’ words.” According to Snorri’s account in the Ynglinga Saga, Skadi became thoroughly tired of Njord and later wedded Odin; their son was Saeming, ancestor of the Haloigja family. It is not certain just which stars were supposed to have been formed from Thjazi’s eyes. In the opinion of J. Fr. Schroeter (Maal og Minne 1919, p. 120 f.) they are the two stars β and γ in Ursa Minor. THOR’S UNLUCKY JOURNEY TO JOTUNHEIM Page 65, line 18 — The Swedish student of folklore, C. W. von Sydow, has subjected this myth to exhaustive scrutiny in his article Tors färd til Utgard (Danske studier 1910, pp. 65-105, 145-82). He reaches the conclusion that the most important components of the myth are to be traced to borrowings from the Celtic, presumably during the Viking era, but prior to the composition of the Eddie poems Lokasenna and Hárbarðsljóð (in which occur allusions to the episode of Skrymir), or in other words, before the tenth century. Sophus Bugge had at an earlier date expressed a similar opinion (Populœr-videnskabelige Foredrag, Christiania, 1907, p. 19 f.). Bugge laid particular stress on the word “gres-iron” (rendered above as “troll-iron”), used of the bands with which Skrymir bound up the bag; this word is not Northern, but Irish: “grés in Irish means ‘art,’ and is especially employed of the arts used by a smith in making iron sharp, hard, and shiny.” Scholars have, however, also found in the myth ancient domestic motives (von Sydow, with others). Among these, particular interest attaches to Thor’s youthful followers, Thjalfi and Roskva. The latter name (Roskva, *earlier Vroskva, related to Gothic wrisqan, pronounced vriskv-, “to bear fruit”) points to a feminine divinity of fruitfulness (cf. note to p. 16) who once must have been closely allied with Thor; there are indications that Thor, notably in Sweden, ruled over seasons and harvests (seep. 118). Thjalfi is found in ancient myths of Thor as the retainer of this god; see Axel Olrik’s article Tordenguden og hans dreng (Danske studier 1905). THOR’S VISIT TO HYMIR Page 69, line 31 — The myth of Thor and the Midgard Serpent is known also from skaldic poems: Bragi the Elder’s Ragnarsdrápa

317 and Ulf Uggason’s Húsdrápa. The subject is treated also in a figured stone recently discovered in Sweden. On the presumed Christian prototype of the myth (Christ catching Leviathan on a hook), see, among others, K. Krohn, Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen VII, p. 167 ff. From the side of folklore certain phases of the myth have been investigated by C. W. von Sydow, Jätten Hymes bägare (Danske studier 1915 [=Folkminnen och Folktankar 1914] pp. 113-50). Among scholars no agreement prevails as to the relationship between Tyr and Hymir. THOR’S VISIT TO GEIRRŒD Page 72, line 22 — This myth we know from Snorri’s Edda, which in great measure bases its story upon a still partially extant skaldic poem, the þórsdrápa of Eilif Godrunarson. An account of Geirrœd, certainly derived from a Northern source, occurs also in Saxo (see Axel Olrik, Kilderne til Sakses oldhistorie II, 1894, p. 133 ff.; cf. K. Liestøl, Norske trollvisor, p. 53 ff.): A Danish king named Gorm had heard an Icelandic (“Thulanian”) myth about Geruth’s (Geirrœd’s) farmstead. Determined to pay a visit to Geirrœd, he set out, accompanied by the widely traveled Thorkel Adelfar, with three ships and three hundred bold men. They sailed northward, but just off Halogaland they encountered head winds so that their provisions were presently exhausted. After many adventures they finally reached land, where they discovered such large herds of cattle that they could not refrain from slaughtering, to supply themselves for the voyage, more than they needed at the moment, in spite of the warnings of Thorkel. During the night they were attacked by a rout of hideous Giants, and they were not permitted to depart before they had delivered over one man from each vessel by way of ransom. Thereupon they continued their course to Bjarmiland, where they found continual winter, murky forests, and no end of monsters. Here they landed. Thorkel forbade them all to speak a single word to the inhabitants of the land, on pain of inevitable harm. A gigantic man came down to the shore to bid them welcome, naming each of the voyagers by his right name; Thorkel said it was Gudmund, Geirrœd’s brother, who was in the habit of looking after all strangers. He asked Thorkel why they all remained silent, and Thorkel replied that they were dumb from shame at not knowing any other language than their mother tongue.

318 Gudmund invited them to go with him, and they consented; Thorkel meanwhile bade them not to touch anything or anybody and not to taste meat or drink; else they would lose all memory of their earlier life. Gudmund was amazed at the king’s not eating a morsel of food, although his own twelve fair daughters waited at the board; but Thorkel always found some excuse or other. Now Gudmund sought to entice the newcomers, offering his daughters in marriage; and four of their number, allowing themselves to be hoodwinked, lost their reason. Once more, but in vain, Gudmund tempted the king with the lovely flowers in his garden. Not until all of his arts had come to naught did he guide them on their way and across a stream so that they might reach Geirrœd’s estate. Presently they descried a hideous, ruinous, filthy town; on the walls many severed human heads stood fixed on stakes, and savage dogs lay on guard outside the portals. Thorkel heartened his traveling companions, and quieted the dogs by letting them lick a horn smeared with fat. They had to climb over the gates by means of ladders, and now they saw that the town was teeming with horrible black shapes; fearful odors filled the air. They walked on, Thorkel meanwhile repeating his warnings. Finally they reached Geirrœd’s house; it was black with soot and the floor was alive with snakes; spears occupied the place of rafters, and a frightful stench filled the room. On the benches along the wall sat Trolls as rigid as stones, while near the door the watchmen leaped about in goatish antics. First the travelers had to pass through a block of stone split in twain; having done so, they caught sight of Geirrœd, an aged man with a pierced body, sitting in the high seat, and beside him three women with broken backs. The block of stone, said Thorkel, had been split by Thor with the same bolt of iron with which he transfixed Geirrœd; it was Thor too who had broken the backs of the women. Here three men of the company yielded to their desire to touch certain of the treasures, and promptly fell dead. The rest meanwhile passed on into an adjoining room, where treasures of such fabulous value met their gaze that even Thorkel lost command of himself and seized upon a splendid cloak. Instantly all the Trolls raised an outcry, surged in upon the strangers, and killed all who were not able to defend themselves by means of arrows or stones. Only the king, Thorkel, and twenty others escaped. They hurried back whence they had come; in their retreat, however, one of their number succumbed to

319 temptation, married one of Gudmund’s daughters, and in consequence lost his wits. Finally the rest reached the ships once more and sailed home. In this story we meet again the daughters of Geirrœd, with broken backs; here, however, they are three, not two as in Snorri’s Edda. Instead of the iron pillar we have here the sundered boulder. In general, the Prose Edda’s description of the halls of Hell on the Strand of Corpses (see p. 38) seems to have occupied the saga writer’s thoughts while he penned his account of Geirrœd’s domain. Echoes of the myth dealing with Geirrœd occur furthermore in the romantic Icelandic story of Thorstein Bœjarmagn (Fornmanna Sögur III, 174-98), dating from the 14th century. One of Olaf Tryggvason’s bodyguard, named Thorstein Bœjarmagn, while on an expedition to the east, fell in with prince Godmund of Glæsisvoll, who was on a journey for the purpose of paying homage to Geirrœd of Risaland. Thorstein bore him company across the boundary river Hemra to Geirrœd’s hall. Here he gave Godmund and his men assistance through occult arts in certain competitive games and trials of strength with Geirrœd and his retainers. At last he brought down upon the hall a rain of immense sparks which in the end blinded and killed Geirrœd, whereupon Godmund took sway over the whole of Geirrœd’s kingdom. Snorri relates in his Edda that Thor may sometimes in skaldic phrase be designated as the “Killer of Geirrœd,” and I.oki as “Geirrœd’s Guest” or “Geirrœd’s Shroud.” THOR’S COMBAT WITH RUNGNIR Page 76, line 20 — This myth Snorri learned to know from the poem Haustlong, the author of which was Harold Fairhair’s Skald Thjodolf of Hvin. The same lay deals also with Thjazi and Idun (p. 53 ff.). The general opinion identifies Aurvandil’s Toe with Orion. It is worth noticing that both of the myths providing material for the extant fragments of Haustlong have to do with the astronomical notions of our forefathers. The masculine name Aurvandil, which obviously is of literary origin, occurs also among the ancient Germans: Auriwandalo in Longobard sources, Orentil in Frankish and Bavarian sources; furthermore, Orendel, in a Middle High German epic poem, half legend, half romantic tale, of the same name. A corresponding

320 common noun appears in Anglo-Saxon, ēarendel, glossed with Latin jubar, meaning “effulgence” and “morning-star.” These circumstances seem to point to a legendary hero named Aurvandil (cf. the addition “Frœkni”: the brave), concerning whom, however, no accurate information is available. He has nothing but the name in common with Horvendillus (a tributary king in Jutland, father of Amleth [Amlóði, “Hamlet”]; killed by his own brother Fengi) in Saxo, the hero of an islet duel in the Viking manner. A. Heusler (Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde III, p. 372 f.) summarizes his conception of the Aurvandil story as follows: “A mythical Aurvandil has left memorials among the Germanic peoples, both the southern and northern, and a star has taken its name from him; it is not certain whether he had a place in heroic literature, and whether the High German epic, supplied with materials from sources so numerous, had any other connection with him than that of the name.” THRYM STEALS MJOLLNIR Page 78, line 26 — This myth is known through the Eddie poem þrymskviða. On the basis of this lay the Icelandic “rimes,” þrymlur, were composed about the year 1400; and both the ancient pagan poem and the þrymlur form the foundation, according to Sophus Bugge and Moltke Moe’s Torsvisen i sin norske form (in Festskrift til Hs. Maj. Kong Oscar II ved Regjerings-Jubilœt 1897), for a popular ballad which has been recorded in Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish versions. The Norwegian ballad is published in the article by Bugge and Moe named above, the Swedish in Arwidsson’s Svenska fornsånger I, no. 1, and the Danish in S. Grundtvig’s Danmarks gamle Folkeviser I, no. 1. The ballads show a close relationship to the Eddic myth; the names, however, have been considerably changed in the course of tradition. Thor is thus called “Torekall” (Norwegian), “Torkar,” “Torer” (Swedish), “Tord of Hafsgård” (Danish); Loki (Laufey’s son) is called “Låkjen” (Norwegian), “Locke Lewe” (Swedish), “Lokke Leimand” or “Lokke Læjermand” (Danish; he is here Thor’s brother); Freyja is called “jungfru Frojenborg” (Swedish), “Freiensborg” (Danish); Thrym is called “Trolletram” (Swedish; cf. Old Norse tramr, “devil”), “Tossegreve” (Danish); and Asgard, “Åsgålen” in the Norwegian ballad, has become “Hafsgård” in the Danish. S. Bugge has found an echo

321 of the Eddie poem in an “Old Danish runic inscription in England,” from about the year 1075; see Aarbøger for nordisk oldkyndighed 1899, p. 263 ff. The myth has been discussed by Axel Olrik in the article cited in the note to, p. 65. THE NECKLACE OF THE BRISINGS Page 80, line 16 — According to Sophus Bugge (Beiträge zur Geschichie der deutschen Sprache XII, p. 69 ff.), this myth was strongly influenced by an old German heroic legend localized in Breisgau (Brisaha) in Baden. Brísinga-men may be rendered as the “Necklace of the Brisings (the name of a people).” It is no doubt to be identified with the ornament Brōsinga-mene in the Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf, in which Brōsinga surely appears through an error in tradition instead of Brīsinga. The ancient Northern peoples understood the name to mean the “gleaming ornament,” no doubt connecting it with brísingr, “fire,” in Modem Norwegian dialects brising “bonfire,” “torch” (and brisa, “to shine,” “to flame”). THE DEATH OF BALDER Page 86, line 20 — The first section is a summary of the Eddie poem Vegtamskviða or Baldrs Draumar. Vegtam means “the wanderer,” more literally “one who is familiar with the way”; Valtam means “one who is familiar with battle.” The last of the questions has to do with the same subject as Odin’s last question in the verbal duels with Vafthrudnir (p. 102) and with king Heidrek (p. 143). In all three of these instances Odin reveals his identity through this question; and here, as in the two other cases, the query probably alludes to Balder’s death. Accordingly Sophus Bugge (Studier I, p. 252 ff.) has taken the position that the maidens referred to are weeping for the death of Balder; if the “neckerchiefs” are taken to mean “sails,” the signification may be this, that the waves, daughters of Ægir, hurl the blazing ship with Balder’s body on board toward the heavens. As to the “mother of three Thursar,” P. A. Munch points to Angerboda, who was the mother of Hel, Fenrir, and the Midgard Serpent. The material in the following paragraphs of the section is based on Snorri’s Edda, which in this case clearly has drawn on

322 poetic sources. The portion dealing with Balder’s funeral is founded on a skaldic poem, Ulf Uggason’s Húsdrápa, fragments of which still are extant. The remaining portions, dealing with Balder’s death and Hermod’s journey to Hell, presuppose Eddie poems, probably two in number, of which the strophe of Thokk alone remains. On Hod, see p. 18. Mistletoe (mistitteinn) means literally the “plant mistletoe,” which has had great importance in cult and magic over a wide area. The name of Balder’s ship, Ringhorni, means “ring-prowed” (see Hj. Falk, Altnordisches Seewesen [in the periodical Wörter and Sachen IV, 1912] p. 38). Hyrrokkin is “one shrunken (hrokkinn) by fire (hyrr) “. The Dwarf’s name, Lit, is no doubt the common noun litr, “color,” “complexion.” Thokk is the word “thanks,” here no doubt used ironically in the sense of “un-thanks,” “ingratitude” (cf. S. Bugge, Studier I, p. 62 f.). The myth of Balder is probably the most disputed of all the Norse myths. Among the suppositions which by this time have been pretty well discarded are that this myth is based on a myth of the seasons (Uhland, Simrock) and that it reflects a struggle between light and darkness conceived morally (N. F. S. Grundtvig). A wholly one-sided theory built up on a separate portion of the myth is that of Frazer (Balder the Beautiful I-II, 1913) according to which Balder is made the personification of the mistletoe-bearing oak, the soul or living principle of which is the mistletoe itself. (Strongly influenced by Frazer is Henrik Schück’s treatment of the myth in his Studier i nordisk literatur - och religionshistoria II, 1904.) A new foundation for the solution of the problem has been laid by Sophus Bugge; in his opinion there must exist an historical connection between the Balder-myth and Christianity (Balder = Christ). Kaarle Krohn (Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen V, 1905, p. 83 ff.) seeks confirmation of this view through an examination of connected traditions in the folklore of Finland: “The Eddic myth of Balder, as well as the section of the Kalevala dealing with Lemminkäinen’s death, is nothing more or less than a Christian legend.” A contrary position is taken by Gustav Neckel (Die Überlieferungen vom Gotte Balder, Dortmund, 1920), who maintains that the connection of the myth with Christianity is not immediate; according to his conception, Balder is to be linked with an Oriental god of fruitfulness who belongs within the same religious and historical limits

323 as Christianity. Neckel believes that the myth came to us by way of Thrace during the period of the great migrations. On another Norse form of the Balder-myth, see p. 94 ff. ÆGIR’S BANQUET — THE CHASTISING OF LOKI Page 94, line 5 — The Prose Edda contains no record of Loki’s scurrilities in the house of Ægir but does give, immediately after the story of Balder’s death, an account of the vengeance of the gods upon Loki. The Poetic Edda is more explicit on the subject; it has an entire lay dealing with Loki’s abusive speeches (Lokasenna, called in later manuscripts Ægisdrekka), and a prose appendix declaring expressly that Loki’s punishment was reserved till that time. Voluspá too refers to the chastisement of Loki in a passage stating that he was bound with the entrails of Vali. Lokasenna alludes to many matters not otherwise known; some of these things must no doubt be regarded as inventions of the poet. The accusation that Frigg had loved the brothers of Odin has to do with the same myth as that recorded in Snorri’s Heimskringla, Ynglinga Saga, chapter 3. We read likewise in the Ynglinga Saga, chapter 4, that Njord had his own sister to wife while he was still one of the Vanir; among the Æsir, on the contrary, wedding with a sister was forbidden. Besides much that is vague and obscure in Lokasenna, there is also much that is coarse, which however often has a boldly comic effect. We read of Freyja: Þegi þú, Freyja! þú ert fordœða, ok meini blandin mjok, síz þik at brœðr þinum stóðu blíð regin ok mundir þú þá, Freyja! frata. Of Gefjon: Þegi þú, Gefjon! þess mun ek nú geta, er pik glapði at geði sveinn inn hviti, er þer sigli gaf, ok þú lagðir lœr yfir. Of Nojrd: Hymis meyjar hofðu þik at hlandtrogi ok þér í munn migu. To be accused of being a female animal or a woman was regarded as touching the honor of a man so closely that accusations of that sort were expressly forbidden by law. OTHER NORSE MYTHS CONCERNING THE DEATH OF BALDER (IN SAXO) Page 96, line 29 — This story has throughout the characteristics of romantic medieval sagas. Saxo’s Rinda is the Rind (earlier *Vrind) of the Eddas, where however she is merely mentioned.

324 Rind was once actually worshipped as a goddess; on this point the ancient Swedish place name Vrindavi (near Norrköping), i.e., “Rind’s sanctuary,” bears witness (see E. Brate Arkiv för nordisk filologi XXIX, p. 109 ff.). (The opinion has been advanced that allusions to Odin and Rind occur in certain strophes of the Eddie poem Hávamál, where Odin tells the story of his unlucky courtship of “Billing’s maiden”; yet the whole matter is uncertain.) Something more definite is to be learned from a statement of the Skald Kormak, who says, “Odin practised sorcery in order to win Rind.” According to Saxo, magic runes were the means employed by Odin in the winning of Rind. An exhaustive literary and historical analysis of Saxo’s saga of Balder is to be found in the work by Neckel cited in the note to p. 86. THE DEATH OF KVASIR — SUTTUNG Page 100, line 16 — In accordance with the details of this myth, all of the poetic arts are called in the ancient poetic phraseology “Kvasir’s Blood,” “Drink of the Dwarfs,” “Gilling’s Ransom,” “Odrœrir’s (Son’s or Bodn’s) Contents,” “Suttung’s Mead,” “Boat-Freight of the Dwarfs,” “Nitbjorg’s Liquor,” “Odin’s Booty,” etc. In the Hávamál occur several strophes referring to the myth; thus we read (strophes 104-10): “I was a guest of the old Giant; little did I get there by holding my tongue; nay, I must needs use many words in Suttung’s halls to gain my desire. Gunnlod of the golden chair gave me to drink of the precious mead; but ill did I reward her guileless love. I let Rati’s mouth (the auger’s bit) gnaw a passage for me through the stone; my life at stake I ventured through the hole, and round about me stood the Giants’ roadways (the mountains). The beauteous maid (Gunnlod) served me well; for now Odrœrir is come into the light of day. Yet I fear I should not have escaped from the home of the Giants had not Gunnlod helped me, the kind young girl whom I embraced. The next day the Rime-Thursar came to the hall of the High One (Odin) to learn the High One’s fate; they asked after Bolverk, whither he was gone, whether he had come back to the gods, or whether Suttung had done him to death. At that time Odin swore a false oath. Can his oaths still be believed? He beguiled Suttung of his mead and brought sorrow to his daughter.” In another passage we read (strophe 13): “The herons of forgetfulness soar above the drinkers and steal away men’s wits. With

325 the feathers of that bird was I spellbound in Gunnlod’s home.” Bolverk means “worker of misfortune.” The name of Suttung is of uncertain origin. Odrœrir seems to signify “one who stirs up (sets in motion) the poetic faculties (óðr).” Bodn is no doubt the same word as Anglo-Saxon byden, “vat,” “crock”; closely related would then be Modern Norwegian buna (from *buðna), “tub.” On these names see further, Hj. Lindroth Maal og Minne 1915, p. 174 ff. According to Sophus Bugge, (Studier I, p. 468 f.), Rati means “rat” (cf. the expression in the Hávamál, “Rati’s mouth “). ODIN’S DEBATE WITH VAFTHRUDNIR Page 102, line 9 — This material forms the subject of the Eddie poem Vafþrúðnismál. The name of the Giant means “one who is skilled in answering intricate questions” (from vefja, “to weave,” “to complicate” and þrúð-, “strength”). ODIN (GRIMNIR) AND GEIRRŒD Page 104, line 31 — This story is drawn from the Eddie poem Grímnismál. This lay and Vafþrúðnismál (note to p. 102) are among the chief sources of our knowledge of the ancient mythology; Snorri’s Edda has borrowed extensively from both poems. Of the homes of the gods, those of Ull and Frey, namely Ydalir and Alfheim, are mentioned in the same strophe, while a whole strophe is given to each of the others (and an entire series of strophes to Valhalla). From these circumstances certain scholars have reached the opinion that there was a close connection between Ull and Frey. HARBARD AND THOR Page 108, line 25 — The source of this section is the Eddie poem Hárbarðsljóð. Scholars have differed as to who Harbard really was supposed to be; P. A. Munch held him to be a Giant, while others have thought of Loki or Odin. The latter supposition no doubt is the correct one; not only is Harbard (that is, the Graybeard) known as a name for Odin from Grímnismál, but his character as represented in Hárbarðsljóð — warlike and a lover

326 of women, crafty and adept in magic — agrees fully with the myths that are characteristic of Odin. Doubtless it is the poet of Hárbarðsljóð who has originated this scene in which the god of craftiness, Odin, and the god of physical force, Thor, stand face to face. The allusions, too, are no doubt for the most part fictitious, for which reason it is not surprising that all the place names (Radseysund, etc.) and several of the personal names as well (Hildolf, Fjolvar, Lebard, Svarang) are otherwise wholly unknown. Fjorgyn is the mother of Thor; see p. 27 f. RAGNAROK — THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS Page 112, line 17 — “The Mighty One from above” is mentioned in only a single strophe of the Voluspá (according to many scholars, a later addition to the poem) and in one passage in the so-called Shorter Voluspá (inserted in the Hyndluljóð) which clearly presupposes the strophe in the Voluspá. The last mentioned passage runs as follows: “Then comes another, still more mighty; him I dare not mention by name; few now can look farther into the future than this, that Odin shall meet the Wolf.” This notion of a god governing all things may very well go back to later pagan times, when Christian influences had begun to make themselves felt. As harmonizing with this view is probably to be understood what is told of several Icelanders: they believed only in the one god who had created the sun and the earth. Thus we read of Thorkel Mani, a grandson of the Icelandic pioneer Ingolf: when he was about to die, he caused himself to be carried out into the sunlight and there gave himself into the keeping of the god who had created the sun; he had also lived a righteous life, like that of the best of Christians. And Thorstein says of his father Ingemund, after the father has been murdered (Vatnsdœla Saga chapter 23): “He shall have his reward [be avenged] by him who has made the sun and all the earth, whoever he may be.” The account here given of Ragnarok and the regenerated universe follows in the main the narrative of Snorri. His story is built on still extant Eddic poems. The chief source is the Voluspá, but Snorri has used also — and indeed expressly cited — the Vafþrúðnismál and the Grímnismál. In addition he has relied on popular beliefs (Naglfar; Vidar’s shoe) which came to him through oral tradition. These sources Snorri has subjected to a

327 process of revision. In certain points his narrative conflicts with the Eddie poems, for example in his mention of Manigarm (see note to p. 4). It is more significant, however, that Snorri refers to a place of punishment for evil men in the new world (the hall on the Strand of Corpses; cf. p. 38). This reference must be charged to Snorri alone. His source is the Voluspá; but there the place of punishment is mentioned before Ragnarok, and in general the description of the regenerated universe in this poem is devoted to presenting a state of eternal felicity which is to be enjoyed not only by the new race of gods but also by the offspring of Lif and Lifthrasir (the indications in the Vafþrúðnismál point in the same direction). There shall be a remedy for all evil, declares the Voluspá; for Balder shall return from Hell. Snorri’s Edda must therefore be regarded as a secondary source so far as it has a bearing in explaining the pagan ideas about Ragnarok. An investigation of this question must be based on the three Eddie poems referred to by Snorri, and in addition on various other sources: hints in several other Eddic poems (Lokasenna, the fettered Wolf, see p. 90; Fáfnismál, the battle on the fields of Vigrid [here called the island Óskópnir, that is, “the not yet created”]; etc.); Skaldic poems (Eiríksmál, cf. note to p. 49, Egil Skallagrimsson’s Sonatorrek, Hákonarmál, and others); visible memorials (the Gosforth Cross in Cumberland [Vidar]; Runic crosses in Man, and the like). All of these sources Axel Olrik has made use of in his exhaustive work, Om Ragnarok (Aarbøger for nordisk oldkyndighed 1902). Very properly Olrik assigns to the Voluspá a distinctive position determined by the very nature of the whole poem. Voluspá, one of the grandest of the Eddic poems, gives a summary view of the whole history of the universe and of the gods, from the first beginnings of things even to far intimations of the sequels to Ragnarok. The verses are put into the mouth of a sibyl or prophetess. She admonishes “all holy kindreds” to give ear while she recites to the Val-Father what has long since befallen and what is to befall in the future. She unfolds vision upon vision, a moving panorama of the origin of the universe, of the creation of the world, of the first epoch of the Æsir, of their golden age, of the great corruption (p. 49), of Balder’s death, and of Loki’s punishment, and finally of Ragnarok, of the ruin of one universe and the establishment of another. Certain motives appear — especially in the case of the Voluspá (from the very last

328 period of paganism) — which seem to be of Christian origin: the corruption of mankind (?), the Gjallar-Horn as a harbinger of Ragnarok, the darkening of the sun and the falling of the stars, the universal fires, the home of the blessed (on Gimle, see below), the coming of the “Mighty One” (see, however, the beginning of this note). Other Ragnarok-motives are also of Christian origin, according to Axel Olrik, but well known in the Viking age: Loki’s release (on Loki = the Devil, see note to p. 25), the hosts of Muspell (see below), possibly also the return of Balder. Finally Olrik has elucidated the connections of the pagan motives outside the North: the swallowing of the sun by sun-wolves (very widespread), the Fimbul Winter (corresponding to something of the kind among the Persians), the sinking of the earth into the sea (Celtic also), the new race of the gods (Celtic), mankind surviving the winter (cf. Persian parallels). Of special significance is the circumstance that the fettered monster released at the last day can be traced to a centre of radiation in the south-east, in the Caucasus, where may be found a multitude of legends relating to giants or beasts held in bonds; in these regions earthquakes are numerous, wherein seems to lie a natural explanation of notions like those which in the North attached themselves to the figure of Loki. A continuation and conclusion for the article cited has been presented by Olrik in Ragnarokforestillingernes udspring (=Danske studier 1913). The word Muspell is found in old German poetry dating from the earliest Christian times; here the term (mûspilli, mûd-, mûtspelli) is used with reference to the end of the world or a day of doom. The exact meaning is much debated. On the popular beliefs connected with the idea of Naglfar, the nail-ship, see K. Krohn, Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen XII, 1912, p. 154 ff., 317 ff. Rym (Hrymr) no doubt has something to do with the adjective hrumr, “decrepit.” The name thus suggests the inclusion of the whole number of Giants, even to those infirm with age. — Surt (connected with svartr) indicates a Giant blackened with fire. In Iceland he has been localized in a mighty subterranean cavern or corridor called Surtshellir, in the county of Myra. Vigrid is the plain where men “ride to battle (víg)”; on another name for it, see above. Lif (the woman’s name) means “life” and Lifthrasir (certainly a more correct form than Leif-), “he who holds fast to life.” Hoddmimir means “Mimir of the treasure.” — Gimle probably may be rendered “gem-lee” (hlé), according to Bugge

329 (Studier I, p. 416 f.) formed as a name for the heavenly Jerusalem, whose “light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” (Rev. 21. 11). WAYLAND Page 129, line 7 — The narrative is drawn from the ancient Eddie poem Volundarkviða. Beyond this the Norse legends have nothing to say about Wayland. The lay is very brief and ha