Norse Mythology Flashcards
Æsir
Norse gods and principal god tribe, with Vanir. Live in Asgard one of the nine worlds held in Yggdrasil.
Includes Odin, Thor, Frigg, Tyr, Loki, Baldur, Heimdall, Idun and Bragi. Æsir for gods, Ásynjur for goddesses, Áss for god, and Ásynja for goddess.
Freyr
Norse fertility god of the Vanir. Twin of Freyja, daughter of Njord.
Vanir
Main tribe of deities with Aesir, against whom they warred; includes Njord, Freyr, and Freya. They live in Vanaheim, one of the Nine Worlds held in Yggdrasil. “Vanir” is rarely used and etymology is unknown. Used by Sturri Sturluson.
Miðgarðr
“Middle Enclosure,” visible world, human civilization. Patterned on Asgard. Surrounded by Jotunheim.
Ásgarðr
“Enclosure of the Aesir,” one of the Nine Worlds, home-fortress in the spiritual sky, connected to Midgarð by the rainbow bridge Bifrost.
What are Nornir? Name three.
Female beings who create and control fate, which even the gods are subject to. Live in a hall by Urðarbrunnr, “Well of Fate,” beneath Yggdrasil.In Völuspá:
- Urðr, “The Past” (a common word),
- Verðandi, “What Is Presently Coming into Being,”
- Skuld, “What Shall Be”.
Urðarbrunnr
Old Norse “Well of Urðr”; either Germanic fate—urðr—or the Norn Urð. One of three wells beneath Yggdrasil and associated with the three Norns in Völuspá.
Seiðr
Sorcery practiced by men and women (notably Odin and Freya), often for divination and manipulation. See Eiríks saga rauða and Ynglinga saga.
Who is Freya, what are her associations, and how does she mirror Odin, and what are her sexual practices?
Old Norse “lady.” Goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, is accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers. Freya mirrors Odin. She presides over the afterlife realm Folkvang; chooses half of the slain warriors to dwell there; leads Valkyries. Married to Óðr. In Lokasenna and Ylinga Saga, she sleeps with Odin’s brothers Vili and Ve. In Lokasenna, Loki accused Freya of sleeping with all the gods and elves.
Jötunheimr
Vast and wild dwelling place of giants that surrounds Midgard, separated by the Jömungandr, and forms the outer extremity of the cosmos. In the Eddas, giants lived in deep, dark forests, on the top of mountains, and other such inhospitable and grim places.
Jörmungandr
“Huge monster,” sea serpent, child of Angrboða and Loki. According to the Prose Edda, Odin tossed Jörmungandr into the great ocean that encircles Midgard. Surrounds the earth and grasp its own tail. When it releases its tail, Ragnarök will begin. Jörmungandr’s enemy Thor.
Ymir
Hermaphroditic giant and primeval being created when the ice of Niflheim mixed with the sparks of Muspelheim. Drank Audhumla’s milk, and his dismemberment led to the creation of the physical cosmos.
Loki
Æesir, son of Fárbauti (giant) and Laufey (goddess).
Jötnar (jötunn)
Often translated “giants,” but ambiguous and variously described by other terms including risi (giant) and thurs (troll). Not necessarily huge. Sometimes ugly, but then called trolls. Jötunn is distantly related to the word to eat. Tyr is born of two jötnar; Oðinn’s mother is a jötunn; Thor’s mother is a jötunn; Nordr and Freya marry jötnar; Oðinn and Thor have affairs with jötnar; and Loki is sired by a jötunn and has three sons by a jötunn, Angrboða.
Snorri Sturluson
1179-1241. Icelandic chieftain who wrote the Prose Edda around 1220.
The Prose Edda
Streamlined account of stories of the Norse gods, written down by Snorri Sturluson around 1220, consisting, presumably of the stories he could remember. Aims to teach would-be poets about the folklore and how to compose old-style poems. Quoted and rephrased poems oral tradition poems, including many preserved in the anthology the Poetic Edda. The Prose Edda begins with a euhemeric prologue and has three parts-Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál, and Hattatal.
Euhemerism
Historical theory of mythology, where mythological accounts are interpreted or presumed to have originated from historical people or events then exaggerated, elaborated, and altered in retellings that reflect cultural mores. Greek mythographer Euhemerus, lived in the late 4th century BC.
The Poetic Edda
Compilation of Old Norse poems from the oral tradition written down in Iceland in the 1270s by an anonymous hand. Voluspá is the creation and destruction of the world. Hávamál is Oðinn’s wisdom. Based on a manuscript called the Codex Regius. Closer to the primary source.
Valkyrja
“Chooser of the slain.” Female figures who choose those who live and die in battle and convey half who die to Odin’s Valhalla (the other half go to Freyja’s afterlife field Fólkvangr) where they become einherjar. The valkyries serve the einherjar mead. Also, lovers of heroes and other mortals.
Þórr
Æesir, son of Oðinn and Jorð (earth), not Freyr.
Codex Regius
The Royal Book [R], Konungsbók [K], or GKS 2365 4º is an Icelandic codex and sole source for many Old Norse poems of the Poetic Edda. Consists of 45 vellum leaves, thought to have been written in the 1270s. Eight lost leaves constitute the great vacuna. Came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, Bishop of Skálholt, in 1643, who gave it to King Frederick III of Denmark in 1662. The Codex Regius was kept in the Royal Library in Copenhagen until April 21, 1971, when it was returned to Reykjavík where it’s kept at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. The manuscript was copied from a manuscript thought to have been written circa 1200.
Einherjar
Those who have died in battle and are brought to Valhalla by valkyries.
What is the meaning of “gard” or “gartð”?
The -gard element in Asgard’s name refers to the Germanic distinction between innangard (“inside the fence”) which is orderly, law-abiding, and civilized and utangard (“beyond the fence”) which is chaotic, anarchic, and wild.
Útgarðar
The capital stronghold of Jotunheim. Útgarða-Loki / Skrýmir rules there. Thor challenged him only to get fooled by the trickster giant who then disappeared.
Skrýmir
Also known as Útgarða-Loki, a ruler of giants who tricks Thor, Loki, and traveling companion Þjálfi.
Oðinn’s two ravens and what they do.
Huginn (“thought”) and Muninn (“memory” or “mind”) are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information back to Odin. Attested in the Poetic Edda.
Heimskringla
Best known of the kings’ sagas, written by Snorri Sturluson circa 1230, collection of sagas about the Norwegian kings, beginning with the saga of the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, followed by accounts of historical Norwegian rulers from Harald Fairhair of the 9th century up to the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla in 1177.
Recall the story of when Loki and Thor meet Útgarða-Loki
Thor and Loki go traveling; goat mishap; meeting Skrýmir; entering Útgarðar; challenges and defeats for each traveler; spending the night; departure and revelation of magic.
Recall the story of Þrymskviða: Thor Gets His Hammer Back, and what does it mean.
“Thrym’s Poem,”
Thor’s hammer and makers and properties
Mjölnir (Old Norse: Mjǫllnir), made by Eitri and Brokkr:
Will kill anything it strikes
When thrown, will return to its thrower
Shrinks so it can be put into a pocket
Fjaðrhamr
“Feather skin,” often called the falcon cloak of Freya
Brísingamen
Freya’s necklace or torc. Compound of unknown derivation. “Men” means neck ring in Old Norse. Brísing may refer to the Brisingr, hence “necklace of the Brisings,” but nobody knows who that might have been. Also referred to in Beowulf. The necklace is never described in detail.
Ergi / Argr / Ragr
Unmanly, not fulfilling the masculine ideal, sissy, sodomy receiver, a kill-worthy insult. Used by Thor to describe how he would be perceived if he dressed up as a woman in Thrymkviða.
Drangr
Fulfilling the manly ideal, courageous and daring, warrior-like.
