Völuspá - The prediction of the prophetess Old Norse and English versions with commentaries It is also supplemented, after the poem, by historical indications on Verden massacre and citations of Gautrek’s saga and Refutes 19 argument claiming a Christian influences, all due to academic specialists.

Here is an nth translation of Völuspá, a poem of poetic Edda. It is essentially different from the others in that it provides information on the suspicions of Christian influences associated to one or another of its stanzas ... and that it shows that, most often, these so-called suspicions are based on commonalities of words used in very different contexts in Völuspá and in the Christians texts supposed to have been inspiring it.

On ‘Christian influences’

It is clear that all the manuscripts of the poetic Edda were written in a social context where being Christian was compulsory and paganism banned. Their content has thus been more than less overseen by Church authorities. Looking for ‘Christian influences’ in these texts is to behave as a supposed civilization carrier sifting the good Christian wheat from the pagan chaff. Colonizers mistreated ‘prime’ civilizations in good conscience in the name of the intellectual superiority of European thought. Modern commentators looking for Christian influences in Eddic texts mistreat them by challenging their authenticity. For example, the myth of ‘Baldr’s death’ is classically supposed to have received a Christian influence due to his ‘obvious’ similarity with Christ and Frigg’s cries? Indeed, Frigg cries for her bloody son. And his father also mourns his son - all this can reflect a Christian behavior. His father, however, has Baldr's assassin killed by another of his sons. Do you see there a negligible gory heathenish detail to be carefully forgotten ? More generally, recall the profusion of texts, mostly medieval ones, dealing with the problem of human destiny and the end of the world. This topic of thought is called an “eschatology.” There are therefore many eschatologies, Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist ones etc. each inspired by the worldview of the religion that produced it. Völuspá describes an ancient Norse eschatology named ‘Ragnarök’, which means ‘the judgment of the powers’, better known thanks to Wagner under the name of ‘twilight of the gods’. But it can be noted immediately that the word ‘eschatology’ has just been improperly used, since an eschatology deals with the destiny of humankind while Ragnarök deals with the destiny of ‘god-kind’. That is why it is not very logical to speak of a Norse eschatology. Anyhow, the vast majority of readers of ancient Norse texts live in true Christian eschatology and use it to understand a Norse ‘non-eschatology’. It is not surprising that they find there a multitude of what they feel as Christian-likeness they call ‘influence’. Already in Völuspá s. 1 we will meet such a misunderstanding with the word spjall that we translate like everyone else by ‘knowledge’, whereas its real meaning is closer to ‘incantation’ or ‘saying’. Another famous example of an ill-treated Norse word is the one of ‘siðr’ that we translate as ‘religion’ (alternatively, we could also say that the word ‘religion’ does not exist in Old Norse). In fact, ‘siðr’ refers to a custom or a behavior rather than religion, by which the old religion is called forn siðr and the new one became nýr siðr (Christian ‘religion’). Old custom describes old behaviors rather than faith. This is why the dates of Christianization (when words have taken their Christian meaning) of a country are much later than those of the corresponding conversion (when speaking is still a pagan one). This also explains why it so easy to misunderstand the content of Völuspá.

This poem is the one that raised the largest suspicion concerning ‘Christian influences’. Quite often these accusations are uttered as insults, which does not lead to honest discussion. It turns out that a fairly recent book, The Nordic Apocalypse, edited by Terry Gunnell and Annette Lassen (2013), took stock of these influences. All the articles in this book, except the one of Lassen (who exposes a history of the past scholarly reactions to this poem) and Gunnell (who describes how the poem could be declaimed and 'played'), have explicitly taken a stand in favor of the existence of these influences. We thus have here a sort of academic summary of the positions of these supporters of influences, which enables a calm discussion that has been undertaken in parallel to a personal translation of the poem. To avoid lengthy references repetition, a special form of quotation is used here: Author name (GL 2013, pp. Number of the pages cited). For example, Gunnell's poetic contribution would be presented as: Gunnell (GL 2013, pp. 70-72). In order not to confuse this discussion with those related to the translation itself, they are framed in a visible way below the corresponding stanza, as below a particularly complicated argumentation that will be further detailed:

Ursula Dronke (1997, pp. 99-104) studied the possibility of Christian influences linked to similarities between Völuspá and the Sibylline Oracles, very popular in the Middle Ages ... but Karl G. Johansson (GL 2013, pp. 161-184) disputed some of her points and he refined Dronke's analysis using the Tiburtine Oracle ... but Stephen J. Shoemaker (ref: http in bibliography), reports that many modifications to the known texts of the Oracles of Tibur are in progress. This ends up having no more interest than a discussions on the gender of angels.

A few words on presentation and translation

A personal presentation of Hávamál (available on Akademia.edu) is done in a similar spirit, but in a less argumentative way since all the attempts to spot Christian influences in Hávamál have been ridiculed by several scholars (see the 2nd interlude associated to s. 21). On the contrary, and relatively recently, Völuspá became for most people a very Christianized piece of lore, yet another incredible miracle.

In what follows, no Scandinavian name or concept will appear without explanation. Once explained, I will use some of these names as if they were well-known.

When dealing with Eddic poems, we must remember that they are known by a remarkably small number of manuscripts which however present different versions. I will use here as reference Codex Regius, in the version published by Hans Kuhn, Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1962. Kuhn presents a great number of variations which are in the various manuscripts, but I will not give these details. For reasons of the convenience, I will keep the letter ö, used to represent an ‘o tailed’ in Kuhn’s edition. Once that a manuscript is chosen, the Old Norse language of poetry is hard to understand. For my translation, I used De Vries’ etymological dictionary (noted ‘de Vries’), Cleasby-Vigfusson’s Icelandic-English dictionary (noted C. -V. ) and very often also, Sveinbjön Egilsson’s Lexicon poëticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis (noted as LexPoet). This last provides the meaning of a greater number of words than C. -V. , associated a variety of quotations illustrating the use of the words, mainly in poetry. I also built a reliable, readable and cherchable list of irregular verbs, made available at IRREGULAR VERBS .

Some useful preliminary explanations

A prophetess was called a völva that gives völu in the singular genitive: this is the “völu” in völuspá (‘spá of a völva’). She practised a kind of shamanism which resembles much that of North American Indians, which became so popular since a few years. This kind of Scandinavian shamanism is called seiðr or seið – often spelled ‘seidr’. In spite of the scarcity of available testimony, we know that a völva practised seiðr outside, on a kind of wooden platform, surrounded by all her helpers and customers, and she required someone singing a special song. There is also a solitary form of practice, called “útiseta” (outside sat) to which Völuspa seems to refer. It seems that seidr was practised primarily by women since it is known that the practice of the seidr ‘to perfection’ makes the men impotent where this word can also be understood as ‘homosexual’. Thus, what had been in the past a highly respected ability, since it was reserved to women or to effeminate men (or, according to my personal interpretation: reserved to the female side of men - and women!), became gradually scorned, and is often used as an insult in texts and runic inscriptions Note that we will always speak of the mythic Giants and Dwarves in order to single them out of the tall or short individuals. Likewise the word god will never carry a capital letter in order to differentiate it from God. Óðinn (often written: Odin, or Odhin, or Odhinn) is the main of the Scandinavian gods, the Æsir. There was also another kind of gods, the Vanir who might have been more ancient, but they will be reconcile with the Æsir, after a war evoked below in stanzas 21-26. Lastly, the Giants are also supra human beings who seem to be irreducible enemies to the Æsir. They will cause Ragnarök as described in stanzas 44 to 58 Old Norse civilization was equipped with a spirituality associated to an ancestors’ worship, to which poems and sagas refer. This worship is also firmly proven by the multitude of offerings found in the howes of the powerful ones and close to the tombs of humble ones, and by the meetings held around these sites during hundreds of years.

VÖLUSPÁ

(The Seeress Prophecy)

Old Norse (ON) Litteral meaning followed by an Comments from the Codex English translation Regius

Stanza 1

Old Norse Literal translation orð eptir orð (word Explanations and comments for word) followed by an English one The first line is a ritual formula used to ask 1. Hlióðs bið ec (Your) listening beg I silence at the beginning of the Icelandic allar kindir from all the family general meeting, or before declaming meiri oc minni, high ones and low ones, poetry. mögo Heimdalar; children of Heimdalr; vildo at ec, Valföðr, you want that I, Killed-ones’ Father, vel fyrtelia well to tell Valföðr = Killed-ones’ Father = Óðinn forn spiöll fira, old knowledge of the people, þau er fremst um man. those the ‘most forward’ (that) I remember the ‘most forward’ = the oldest? It normally means ‘most future’, i. e. here: ‘all of them’ English Translation

I beg you to listen , you all of the family, Another Eddic poem, Rigsþula, also tells us higher and lower ones, that all kinds of human ones are Heimdall’s children of Heimdalr; sons.

You want, Valföðr, that I properly tell ancient knowledge remotest that I remember.

In the first line, the fact of “begging for listening” from her audience instead of imposing silence to them illustrates a typical Norse behavior that - with all due respect to the poet and the völva- indicates a form of modesty often absent among the religion preachers. Spjall is indeed ‘a knowledge, a saying’ in our civilization, but it also carries the meaning of magical incantation in Old Norse. It is a little surprising that, in the second part of this stanza, the völva says that Óðinn asked her to tell the old incantations, the ‘old ways of speech’ and that this covers what we call an eschatology. We see that some ways of Norse speaking became foreign to ours.

Stanza 2

Old Norse Literal translation Explanations and comments

2. Ec man iötna I remember the giants ár um borna, in old times born, þá er forðom mic those who in the past me fœdda höfðo; nourished to someone adult; nío man ec heima, nine remember I countries, The two words ‘giantess’ and ‘ogress’ are more or nío íviði, nine Giantesses (or ogresses) less equivalent in the Norse langage. miötvið mœran the measure-master famous Here, the master of measurement can only be fyr mold neðan. toward the ground under. Yggdrasill, which is still growing under the ground. English I remember the giants This title has been used in Old English to point at in old times born, God. Yggdrasill is certainly no proper ‘god’ though this way of speech attributes to it a those who in the past primary role in Norse mythology. nourished me to become an adult;

I remember nine countries, nine Giantesses and the famous measure-master still under the ground.

Additional comments

In short, in the second stanza, the völva describes what have been the oldest times she had known: Nine distinct worlds inhabited by “Giants and Giantesses” able to raise their children. The gods and the humans did not exist yet and it seems that the völva was herself of Giant ancestry. This explains that Óðinn had to awaken a Giantess to learn about the origins of the Norse worlds. The lines “I remember nine countries and nine giants” underline the fact that the Giants then occupied all existing territories. We cannot avoid noticing here the huge difference, relative to the organization of the living beings, between the Christian tradition and the Norse one. In the Norse tradition, the first inhabitants were Giants and, equally important in the poem, Giantesses. This overall equality between males and females opposes the biblical description of the first earth inhabitants. The same occurs for humankind: As we shall see in s. 17 and 18, men and women have been both simultaneously gifted with the same abilities by the Powers, which again opposes the biblical legend of humankind’s creation.

The last two lines introduce us to a ‘being’ that is so absent from our consciousness that we tend to somewhat forget the existence of an ancient tree who gives the good measure to a world-wide orchestra. He/She/It was ‘still under the earth’ as stated by line 8 of this stanza, implying that, during these remote times, the ‘good measure’ was not yet available. This means that these ancient times were times of wild immoderation.

Stanza 3

Old Norse Literal translation Explanations and comments

3. Ár var alda, The year was old, there Ymir had settled, This is a way to say “in olden days. ” þar er Ymir bygði, there were sand nor sea vara sandr né sær nor fresh waves, Ymir is the name of the primary Giant who has né svalar unnir, been the first living being in the universe, (and ground was never thus before the gods). iörð fannz æva nor sky above, “the ground could not be found” né upphiminn, abyss was gigantic gap var ginnunga and grass none. “ nothing existed but a huge pit” enn gras hvergi. English

In these old times when Ymir had settled there there were neither sand nor sea nor chilly waves;

Ground did not exist nor sky above, only one immense pit and no grass at all.

Stanza 4

Old Norse Literal translation Explanations and comments

4. Áðr Burs synir At first sons of Burr grounds over up- ypþo = yppðu is the preterit plural of verb yppa, to biöðum um ypþo, lifted/exalted, raise, exalt. þeir er miðgarð there is miðgarðr, Burr is Óðinn’s father. Snorra Edda reports that mœran scópo; magnificently shaped by magic means; Auðumla, the primitive cow, after having licked the ice surrounding Giant Ymir, licked out also sól scein sunnan sun shone from the South the first god, Burr; out of the ice. á salar steina, on a hall of stone, þá var grund gróin then were ground grown Miðgarðr is the residence of human beings, our grœnom lauki. green leeks. world.

English Verb skapa does skópu in the preterit plural At first Burr’s sons , (spelled scópo here). It can simply mean ‘to raised and exalted the grounds, make’ but its proper meaning is ‘to shape’, and it where Miðgarðr stands, can also mean ‘to use magic for shaping’ which magnificently magic-shaped; suits well the present context.

The “green leeks” of the text point at the very first The sun was shining from the South grass. on a hall of stone, Thus, in Scandinavian mythology, the leek carries then were growing on the ground a mystical importance that is difficult to render green leeks. within the modern world.

Earth formation: a process of ‘birth delivery’ or of ‘things reordering’?

Because of her incredible culture, and the respect it inspires, Ursula Dronke had an incredibly strong influence within the scholarly community specialized in ancient Scandinavian culture. She takes this opportunity to support a Christian understanding of the texts. The lines above: “The sons of Burr (Norse gods) have raised the land” obviously evokes a planet Earth emerging from the waters. It should be noted that the same type of description takes place in s. 59 that says: “upp koma ... iörð ór ægi (upward comes ... the land out of the ocean). We thus understand that the Gimle ‘new earth’, following Ragnarok, will also come out of the waters.

Ursula Dronke states she has looked for another example of such an emergence of the Earth and modestly confesses that the only allusion to such a phenomenon she could find is in Genesis 1, 9. Indeed, the lines 9 and 10 of Genesis 1 state: (9) Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. (10) God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. It seems quite clear that Genesis does not describe an emergence of Earth out of the waters but a splitting between the waters and the land and the waters are relocated. In fact, ‘God’ piles up the waters in one place and calls 'Earth' what is left, while the sons of Burr have ‘raised’ the earth (the one to be moved) so that it appears in (or out of?) Ginnungagap. On the whole, Earth actually starts to exist in both cases, but it is as a result of two different actions, one being to move away the waters and the other to expose Earth. The image evoked by the Norse myth is that of maternal waters giving birth to the earth. Genesis 1 evokes Earth establishment since ‘God’ separated the waters from earth.

Stanza 5

Old Norse Literal translation Explanations and comments

5. Sól varp sunnan (she) Sun threw from the South Sun is a feminine word in Old Norse and she sinni mána (to) her moon ‘throws’ her hand to sinni (dative feminine) the hendi inni hœgri a hand (for) a comfortable home moon. um himiniöður; around the edge of the sky; She obviously acts to help moon so that one can understand that sun ‘gave moon a hand’. sól þat né vissi sun did not know Eddic poetry does not hesitate to play with the hvar hón sali átti, which her residence had, word ordering in order to comply to poetic stiörnor þat ne visso the stars did not know composition rules, such as Snorri granted them to hvar þær staði átto, which housing they had, us. Here, we could translate “sinni mána” by “her máni þat né vissi (he) moon did not know moon” which would not have much meaning, this hvat hann megins átti. which he power had. is why we associate “sinni” with “hendi” in next line which gives “her hand. ” English

The sun, from the South, stretched her hand I preserved the sequence of “átti, átto” and of “þat born vissi, þat born visso” of the original to the moon (to get) a comfortable though it may can appear a little heavy for us. The home reason for that is there exists a style of scaldic all around the sky; poetry dedicated to magic verses, and this style is called Galdralag, “poetic incantation. ” It relies sun did not know on words repetition, as here. which residence she had, the stars did not know which housing they had, moon did not know which power he had.

Stanza 6

Old Norse Literal translation Explanations and comments

6. Þá gengo regin öll Then went powers all The word ‘rök’ will be met again in stanzas 9, 23 á röcstóla, on judgement seats and 25, always with the significance of a place ginnheilög goð, supreme divinities gods, where a wise decision is done. oc um þat gættuz: and from that obtained: “regin” is a plural word meaning “the powers,” with the original meaning of “the advisers. ” nótt oc niðium to night and her offspring nöfn um gáfo, names allotted, The feminine word nótt does also nótt in the morgin héto the morning named dative singular. It is thus ‘to the night’ that the oc miðian dag, and the median (of) day gods gave her name. We have no clear undorn og aptan, hours of the day and the evening information relative to Night’s offspring. It might árom at telia. with the years to be counted. be a poetical way of speech to evoke all the ‘nightly beings’.

English

Then all the powers went sitting on their judgement seats supreme divinities gods, The redundancy of the vocabulary designating the primitive gods and their sacred features shows and from that they obtained: that the poet who wrote Völuspá made a point of stressing the gods’ importance at the beginning to night and her offspring times. The poem tells their ending times, with no they allotted their names, hint that they might have demeaned themselves. named the morning and the median of the day the hours of the day and the evening and how to count the years.

Stanza 7

Old Norse literal translation AND English Explanations and comments The word ‘ið ’ indicates a work, an achievement. It does 7. Hittuz æsir Met the Æsir its plural genitive in ‘a’: iða. This describes gods’ housing á Iðavelli, on Iðavöllr, ‘Fulfillments Plain’, as a place where they perform serious work. þeir er hörg oc Dronke did another choice by reading iða-völlr, iða = hof there are their sanctuary and homes eddy. In this case, eddy has to be understood as a modifier há timbroðo; high ‘timbered’ ones; of völlr, she accordingly translates by “eddying plain. ” This describes god’s housing as a moving unsafe place. forging hearths laid, afla lögðo, richness forged "hörg oc hof ” is better understood by considering auð smíðoðo, archaeological discoveries. It was noted that certain tangir scópo, blacksmith clenches shaped, particularly majestic buildings (hof) were also places of oc tól gorðo. and tools made. worship (hörgr), either inside them, or in the near vicinity.

Stanza 8

Old Norse literal translation Comments and explanations

8. Teflðo í túni, Plaid tafl in the hedged meadow, Tafl is a game similar to checkers. To learn the teitir vóro, merry they were, rules of this game, consult var þeim vættergis were they nothing http://www. irminsul. org/arc/002sg. html vant ór gulli, in want from gold. or http://www. vikinganswerlady. com/games. shtml . unz þriár qvómo until three came , þursa meyiar of giants’ maidens, It is usually understood that these three giant ámátcar miöc detestable and over powerful, girls, “þursa meyiar ”, coming from giants’ ór iötunheimom. from giant-homes. country, “iötunheimr, ” are the three Norns. English

They plaid tafl in the hedged meadow, The end of the stanza seems to say that the gods merry they were, were merry until (!) Norns arrival.

in noway they were in want from gold.

until three came, from giant-dwellings. giant born maidens, quite detestable and over-powerful ones.

A short vocabulary note about “ámátcar” (hateful and over powerful)

It is necessary to go through LexPoet in order to understand the kind of play word associated to ámátcar. This dictionary presents two similar words, amátligr (= monstrous, hateful) and ámáttigr (= over-powerful – ‘á’ – can be an intensifier). You see that ámátcar lacks the ‘a’ beginning amátligr and ‘tt’ in ámáttigr. The translators often select ‘over-powerful’ but the context of “merry …until” casts a negative aspect upon these three women, hence the present translation.

Stanza 9

Old Norse literal translation Comments and explanations

9. Þá gengo regin öll Then went divinities all In “ginnheilog” what ‘ginn’ exactly means is in á röcstóla, on judgement-stools, fact unknown. This word applies only to the gods. ginnheilog goð, sacred saint gods, oc um þat gættuz, and from this got, Brimir and Bláinn are two other names given to hverr scyldi dverga that shall dwarves the primitive Giant, Ymir, which was killed by dróttin scepia a (noble) household to (magically) shape the “sons of Burr” (thus, in particular by Óðinn), ór Brimis blóði from Brimir blood and whose body was used to create the world. oc ór Bláins leggiom. and from Bláinn legs English

Then all divinities went The Dwarves are thus created from elements that on their judgement-stools, come from Ymir’s body. Ymir is called Brimir sacred saint gods, (brim = surf, sea) when his body created the seas. We expect that his legs are used to create the and from this they got earth but name Bláinn is ambiguous. The radical ‘‘blá’ may mean ’blue’ and it again evokes a marine element. It is also often used to mean that shall a (noble) household ‘dark blue, black’ which evokes then a terrestrial of dwarves (magically) shape… element. (OR that they shall (magically) shape the (noble) household of Dwarves) from Brimir blood and from Bláinn legs.

Comment: A serious vocabulary problem and a secondary grammar problem

Vocabulary problem The verb skepja (written scepia above) is an old form of the verb skapa which means: to work, make, form, assign a destiny, to fix. When a meaning as ‘to make’ is not utterly ridiculous, the translators objectively use it since it is the most neutral meaning. In the context of the creation of a new ‘race’ of living beings, we cannot not honestly avoid evoking magic. That the gods created Dwarves by using their magic is exactly what scepia indicates.

Grammar problem I also want to clarify an interesting grammatical ambiguity that changes this stanza comprehension. The word for ‘a noble household’, dróttin, is obviously feminine nominative, subject of skepja, it is thus ‘a noble household’ (here the gods) that will skepja. The word for ‘Dwarf’ is a masculine, dvergr, and it does dverga in the plural genitive and accusative. Similarly, the singular and plural preterit subjunctive of skulu are identical. If dverga is a plural accusative, then “the noble household created the Dwarves. ” If it is a plural genitive, we can then read that ‘they’ (the gods) created “a household of Dwarves. ” Both say the same significant thing, namely that the Dwarves were created by the gods.

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Follow the famous and ‘boring’ lists of Dwarves names. Experts have been looking for their meaning by using the Norse words they evoke, and their etymology. I believe firmly that these lists were intended to help memorizing this large number of names, by the music of their words and the measure of poetry. This is why, when I have been able to, I give a name that is phonetically obvious by association to a familiar word even if etymology suggests something else.

Stanza 10

Old Norse literal translation Comments and explanations

10. Þar Mótsognir There Mótsognir Mótsognir, or Móðsognir = Meeting Sucker mæztr um orðinn most famous ‘spoken of’ (‘sucker’ in the way an ebbing tide ‘sucks’ dverga allra Dwarves all en Durinn annarr; and Durinn the other one; sand) Durinn = Drowsing þeir manlícon they human-shapes The context leads us to believe that these shapes will mörg um gorðo, many made, be used to create the Dwarves since the lists that dvergar, ór iörðo, Dwarves, out of ground, follows in s. 11-13 provides lists of the Dwarves. sem Durinn sagði. as Durinn had said. Inversely, the way of speech “human-shapes” suggests that these shapes might have been also used English for creating the two first human beings: That Ask and Embla are shaped from pieces of wood is suggested There Mótsognir by other texts, not by Völuspá. most famous mentioned It is also quite possible that Völuspá simply stresses of all Dwarves the similarity between the Dwarves and mankind. and Durinn after him;

Dwarves made many human shapes, out of ground, as Durinn had said.

Stanza 11

Old Norse ‘translation’ Meaning of names

11. Nýi oc Niði, Nýi and Niði, Nýi = New Moon, Niði = No Moon, Norðri oc Suðri, Austri oc Vestri, Norðri and Suðri, Nordri = Northern, Sudri = Southern, Alþiófr, Dvalinn, Austr and Vestri, Austri = Eastern, Vestri = Western,

Alþiófr, Dvalinn, Alþiófr = Allthief, Dvalinn = Plodder, Bívorr, Bávorr, Bívörr = Shiverly, Bávörr = Tumbler Bömburr, Nóri, Bívörr, Bávörr, Bömburr = Druming or Noisy, Nóri = Tiny, Án oc Ánarr, Bömburr, Nóri, Án = ‘without’ = Lacking, Ánarr = ‘Lack-producer’, Ái, Miöðvitnir. Án and Ánarr, Ái = Ancestor, Miöðvitnir = Mead-bewitched-wolf Ái, Miöðvitnir.

Stanza 12

Old Norse ‘translation’ Meaning of names

12. Veigr oc Gandálfr, 12. Veigr and Gandálfr, Veigr : IF Veggr = Wall, IF veig = Strong drink or ‘Magic Potion’, Gandálfr = Magic-stick Elf, Vindálfr, Þráinn, Vindálfr, Þráinn, Vindálfr = Wind Elf, Þráinn = Stubborn or Needy Þekkr = Pleasing, Þorinn = He-dares, Þeccr oc Þorinn, Þekkr and Þorinn (or Þroinn), Þrór =Tough, Healthy , Vitr = Wise, Litr = Hued, Þrór, Vitr and Litr, Nár = Corpse, Nýráðr = New adviser, Þrór, Vitr oc Litr, Nár Nýráðr - Nár oc Nýráðr - and Obviously, Reginn is here a name meaning ‘the gods’ nú hefi ec dverga Here are the Dwarves as word regin. It carries also the meaning of being powerful. - Reginn oc Ráðsviðr - - Reginn et Ráðsviðr - Reginn = gods or Powers, Ráðsviðr = Advice-Wise . rétt um talða. properly reckoned.

Stanza 13

Old Norse Meaning of names

13. Fíli, Kíli, Fíli = Fat Flesh, Kíli = Inlet, Canal, Fundinn, Náli, Fundinn = Found, Náli = Needle

Hepti, Víli, Hepti =Hefti = Chained, Víli = Miserable, Hanarr, Svíurr, Hanarr = Skilful, Svíurr = Pain Releaser Frár, Hornbori, Frár = Fast, Hornbori = Pierced Horn, Frægr = Famous, Lóni = Islet, Frægr oc Lóni, Aurvangr = Pebbly Wetland or Wetground Meadow, Iari = Fighter Aurvangr, Iari, Eikinscjaldi. Eikinskjaldi = Oakenshield.

Stanza 14

Old Norse litteral translation Meaning of names

14. Mál er dverga Time (or measure) of Dwarves Dvalinn = Plodder (s. 11) í Dvalins liði in Dvalinn’s ‘joint’ (kindred) ‘arbitrator’s progeny ’: liónar = lióna kindom of mankind’s (for the) kin til Lofars telia, until Lofarr enumerate, arbitrator or simply people (de Vries). þeir er sótto they who looked for frá salar steini from the hall in stone Aurvangr = Pebbly Wetlands or Aurvanga siöt of Aurvangar the dwelling Wetground Meadow (s. 13) til Iörovalla. until Iörovellir. Iörovalla = Fightvalley (cf. Iari, s. 13) English Comments and explanations

It is time that Dwarves, This stanza tells us that all Dwarves’ kindred goes up to Dvalinn’s kindred, Lofarr and that it has to be taught to mankind, and s. 16 will confirm it. The need for mankind’s survival to receive this be listed until Lofarr kind of inheritance, hence to memorize this list of Dwarves, is for mankind’s kin, hinted at in this stanza. S. 16 will explicitly state that mankind’s survival depends on performing this memorial they who moved (looked for’) duty. from the dwellings That must thus be very significant in the old Scandinavian of Aurvangar’s stone hall tradition, but we lost why this is so important for us. until Jörovellir.

Note on the Dwarves’ move

The choice of names Aurvangar and Jörovellir can help us guessing why they moved. Aurvangar has two possible meanings: Pebbly Wetlands or Wetground Meadow and, for Jörovellir I only proposed Fightvalley. The text describes Aurvangar as “the residences of the stony rooms” i. e. a rock environment which suits well ‘Pebbly Wetlands’. The Dwarves leave this place to join Fightvalley. In the context of a near Ragnarök, this points at them as fighter joining combat, certainly on the gods’ side, as the myth of their creation suggests it. Dronke gives two different names and an almost opposite conclusion to ours “… the dwarf material preserved in Völuspá are allusions to… their migration from rocky regions to fertile plains, so it would seem; 14)” p. 122. She translate Aurvangr “Loam Lee” and reads Jörovellir as Jörðvellir ‘Earth Plains’ since Jörð means Earth. This explains her conclusion. Gaining better ground is certainly a good motive for people moves but I find it somewhat trifling in the context of Völuspá.

Stanza 15

Old Norse ‘translation’ Meaning of names There were Draupnir 15. Þar var Draupnir and Dólgþrasir, Draupnir = Dripping (from drjúpa, pret. draup) oc Dólgþrasir, Hár, Haugspori, Dólgþrasir = Monster Fighter, Hár, Haugspori, Hár = High, Haugspori : If : Haug-spori = Burial-mound-spur Hlévangr, Glói, else: Haugs-por(r)i = Burial-mound-one-eyed-person Hlévangr, Glói, Hlévangr =-Garden Shelter, Glói = Shiny Skirvir, Virvir, Skirvir = Skirpir = from skyrpa, Spitting ? Virvir,Virfir, Virfill Scirvir, Virvir, = Penis ? [Dronke gives ‘Groiner’… a modest way of saying penis. ] Skáfiðr = Skáviðr = Twisted-tree, Ái = Ancestor (as in s. 11) Skáfiðr, Ái, Scáfiðr, Ái,

Stanza 16

Old Norse litteral translation Meaning of names

16. Álfr oc Yngvi Álfr and Yngvi Álfr = Elf, Yngvi = King, Eikinskjaldi = Eikinscialdi, Eikinskjaldi, Oak-shield, Fialarr oc Frosti, Fialarr and Frosti, OR Finnr oc Ginnarr; Finnr andGinnarr; Fialarr = He-of-the-cliff (fjöl) He-of- the-skis, Frosti = Frost, Finnr = Hunter or þat mun uppi, this remembered up, Saami, Ginnarr = Cheater or Powerful. meðan öld lifir, as long as humankind lives langniðia tal of offsprings list descendants Lofarr = Praiser Lofars hafat. of Lofarr had. English Comments and explanations

The record of Lofarr’s offsprings Lofarr’s progeny will be remembered “as long as mankind lives. ” is rembered at the top (as highly This implies implies that forgetting these important), names is one of the conditions for as long as humnakind lives. mankind extinction.

A commentary on the four last lines translation

Here are three other versions of s. 16 last four lines Dronke Orchard Boyer

Uplifted in memory there will remain in Always will come back as long as the world memory As long as mankind lives lives while the world lasts, These generations will be this list the lineage of Praiser, Up to Lofarr. of Praiser’s lineage. properly listed.

These three translations come from the same Old Norse version and probably share the same literal meaning, similar to the one just above given. Note that American people forget to specifically refer to humans (they speak of the ‘world’) so that the burden of maintaining this list is not attributed to humankind. Boyer forgets the memorization, well emphasized by Americans, so that the concomitance of the memory of Lotarr’s line and humankind survival appears as a mere coincidence, while the poem implies that they are each other related.

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Fate related stanzas: 17-20 and 31

Stanza 17

The völva’s account stops at stanza 9 and is followed by a string of 9 stanzas giving the list of dwarf names. Thus, this account begins again at s 17: Everything happened as described in s. 1-8, until… 17. Unz þrír kvámu 1. Until three came ór því liði 2. out of their people (family place) öflgir ok ástkir 3. strong-always and loving-always æsir at húsi, 4. æsir to (mankind’s) house, fundu á landi 5. they found on the ground lítt megandi 6. little having might Ask ok Emblu 7. Ask(r) and Embla örlöglausa 8. örlög-less (deprived of örlög).

Comment on the vocabulary

Line 2. lið means a host/people. The ‘three’, in the first line left their ‘people’, i. e. the Æsir. Line 3. afl-gir is an adjective derivation of afl-gi = force-always. The same for ást = a lover. Line 5. The word land describes the ground as opposite to the sea, “where the sea stops,” wherefrom comes the traditional image of the beach where Ask and Embla were found. Line 7. The names of the first two human persons are here in the accusative (direct object complement of verb ‘found’). We can read the name of the man as Ask or Askr which are identical in the accusative. Askr means ash-tree but the experts vainly sought a name of tree (or anything else), which could be linked to the name Embla. Some translators claim to have found a solution, which reflects nothing but their personal beliefs. A traditional example is that of a shoot of vine, which is supposed to find its support on the solid ash, image of the fragile woman being carried by her strong man. All this is ridiculous also from the point of view of the name ‘Embla’.

Comment on the meaning of the stanza

Honesty however leads to point out that line of 17 speaks of an ‘askr’ who is a man and that 19 begins by saying that Yggdrasill is also an ‘askr’, which gives to it/him a kind of status of a pillar. In fact, if we closely examine the structure of the Icelandic married couple, it seems that indeed the man is an (often disputed) pillar in the outer world whereas the woman is the (uncontested) pillar of an inner world represented by the family dwelling.

This stanza gives us also three invaluable indications on what defines a ‘true’ human being. Firstly, Ask and Embla are found together and we will see that, moreover, all the features given to them by the gods in stanza 18 are given to both, without reference to their genre. This unrelentingly separates us from all the cultures where the gods or god allot qualities to the male, and afterwards to the female. This stanza thus describes, without reference to sex, what Ask and Embla both miss to be true human beings. Secondly, they are both ‘lítt megandi’ i. e. ‘having little might’, unable of action. Thus, a fundamental quality of human is to be able to act on the world. Thirdly, they are both ‘örlöglauss’, without destiny. Thus, the second fundamental character defining a human being is to have a destiny. In Anglo-Saxon literature, the wyrd, fate or destiny, is presented as an unbearable constraint imposed on us (see http://www. nordic-life. org/nmh/WyrdEng. htm , whereas here, constraint or not, it is one of the two paramount characters of human beings. To rebel against our destiny is to some extent to leave our human status. However, the first human capacity, the one of acting, moderates the fate’s inexorability. Our human destiny is to be wedged between an inexorable outer destiny and our capacity to act and we have to manage it. *********************************

Stanza 18

18. Önd þau né átto, 1. Breath they did not own, óð þau né höfðo, 2. intelligence they did not have lá né læti 3. ‘the sea’ [internal waters] does not flow né lito góða; 4. nor (shows) a hue good (beautiful); önd gaf Óðinn, 5. breath gave Óðinn óð gaf Hœnir, 6. intelligence gave Hœnir lá gaf Lóðurr 7. ‘sea’ gave Lóðurr oc lito góða. 8. and beautiful hue.

Hœnir: the word hœnir comes from an Indo-European root meaning ‘the high one, the inflamed one’ to which also one of Óðinn’s names is related, Hár (the High one). De Vries suggests also that it may be related to word hœna (hen). In stanza 63 (below) Hœnir is one of the gods surviving Ragnarök and he seems to collect Óðinn magical inheritance. In addition, he seems to be a silent god of whom we know little.

Lóðurr (and Loki): The word ló means ‘light’ and etymology connects the name Lóðurr to the one of ‘distributor of fire’ [Note 1]. Theoften met assumption that Lóðurr is another name of Loki runs up against the fact that ‘wicked’ Loki cannot have given ‘the ‘sea’ and beautiful hue’ to humankind. It should however be remembered that, for a long time, Loki is nothing but a god embarrassing to the Æsir by its often ambiguous role with respect to the Giants. Only after Baldr’s murder and his insulting attitude in Lokasenna, he becomes the ‘wicked one’, described by Snorri with such an amount of aggressiveness. In addition to being a Giant-god, he may have been also an ‘evolving god’ though this hypothesis cannot be verified.

[Note 1] Loki is very often associated to fire through a pun on his name and the one of a Giant called Logi. As a matter of fact log is a flame and loga means ‘to burn with a flame’. Logi is certainly a representative of the flames. A paltry pun: Loki/Logi makes them identical. However, the only precise knowledge we have about Logi is an eating competition opposing Loki and Logi, and Logi wins because: “Who eats faster than Loki? – wild-fire,” as goes a riddle. All this hints at Loki having a power different from the one of fire.

Two triples of gods

We just met a triple of gods, Óðinn, Hœnir and Lóðurr. There is another one : Óðinn, Vili and Vé. The last is named in Lokasenna where Loki accuses Frigg to marry Vili and Vé while Óðinn was traveling away. Vili is undoubtedly related to vil, ‘a wish, a desire’. The word even took the pejorative meaning of ‘satisfaction of our own yearnings’. Vili is certainly very close to Óðinn since skaldic poetry created the kenning ‘Vili’s brother’ to indicate Óðinn. The word vé means sanctuary what gives to Vé a status of a god of consecrated places. It is associated the verb vígja, to hallow, and as such Vé is linked to Thórr’s hallowing hammer.

It is tempting to draw relationships between two of Óðinn’s companions in these two triples, namely between Vili and Hœnir, and between Vé and Lóðurr. However, if these relations exist, the myths describing them have been lost.

Comment on the vocabulary

The verbs eiga and hafa, to own and to have, are here in their preterit subjunctive case. The verb láta, like English ‘to let’, has several meanings. I use one meaning in line 3. (“to let run/flow”) and I consider that another meaning is implied in line 4. (“to let appear/show”). It is a subjunctive present: the preterit of the two first lines is not kept. Lá is the sea water near the seashore. I suppose that this word is used to evoke the internal liquids that any living being carries inside itself, as opposed to the land (see s. 17) on which the putative human beings are lying.

Comment on the meaning of the stanza

This comment cannot be done wihtout taking into account other stanzas associated to humankind creation and its fate. You will find these commentaries at http://www.nordic- life.org/nmh/WyrdEng.htm and the 3 files örlög in Völuspá örlög in Hávamál örlög and sköp in other eddic poetry .

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Stanza 19

19. Ask veit ek standa, An askr know-I stands, heitir Yggdrasill, it is called Yggdrasill, hár baðmr, ausinn high tree, sprinkled hvíta auri; with white mud; þaðan koma döggvar wherefrom come the dews þærs í dala falla, that fall in the vale, stendur æ yfir grænn it stands up always green above Urðar brunni. Urðr’s source.

Comment on the vocabulary

Askr, here in the accusative, ask, means an ash-tree. The saying ‘askr Yggdr]asill’ appears several times in Norse literature. This is why almost everyone claims that the tree of the world is an ash-tree… with the modern meaning of the word, Fraxinus excelsior. This is a typical anachronism and I have the feeling that the only goal of the ‘ash-tree-fanatics’ is to introduce yet another contradiction in our mythology: Everyone knows that an “always green ash-tree” does not exist. In skaldic poetry, a classical technique is the one of using heiti, i. e. replacing the name of an object by another of close meaning. For example, stating ‘ash-tree’ instead of ‘tree’. There even exist lists of heiti which indicate which replacements were successfully used by the old poets. For example the heiti for a tree (“viðar heiti”) contain the word askr. It means that a traditional way to speak uses the word ‘ash’ to speak of a ‘tree’. In this list of heiti, we fin also the words sverða, skipa, hesta (sword, boat, horse) which could express the word tree, according to the context. (Source:Jónsson, Skjaldedigtning B1, downloadable at http://www. septentrionalia. net/etexts/skjald_b1. pdf ). Here, the word baðmr of the third line us provides a context pointing at a tree. Yggdrasill breaks up into yggr = fear and drasill (or drösull) = horse (exclusively in poetry). - On yggr. The word yggr does not appear in Cleasby-Vigfusson that gives onlyt ýgr = wild. It is found in de Vries who associates it to uggr = fear. It is also given by Lexicon Poeticum which identifies it with ýgr. The last two dictionaries announce that Yggr is one of the traditional names of Óðinn, which does also C-V but not at the word yggr. - On drasill. The three dictionaries we use here give the words drasill and drösull with this spelling. The spelling ‘Yggdrasil’ is how translators write it, reduced to its root and avoiding to write the letter marking the nominative, here the second ‘l’. Baðmr means tree. In the manuscript, it is written batmr. Ausinn:The verb ausa = to sprinkle, here in the past participle, ausinn. Döggvar = old nominative and plural genitive of dögg, dew.

Comment on the meaning of the stanza

Lines 3-6 describe a way of explaining why dew can settle on grass even from an uncloudy sky. By its roots, Yggdrasill is the support of all the Chtonian forces, including Niðhöggr. I call it the ‘bottom snake’ because I do not put an accent the ‘i’ (níð, slandering, and niðr, the son or ‘at the bottom’, have very different meanings). By its trunk, its higher roots and its lower branches, it is the support of the nine inhabited worlds. By its high branches and its leaves, it is the carrier of all heavenly forces. The atmosphere, with or without clouds, contains some amount of moisture that settles in dew. The allegory contained in lines 3-6 is thus explained. It nevertheless could also bear a more mystical meaning, namely that the trees pour down a life source that flows upon our world.

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Stanza 20

20. Þaðan koma meyjar 1. From there come maids margs vitandi 2. much knowing þrjár ór þeim sæ/sal, 3. three out of their sea/hall er und þolli stendr; 4. which below a pine stands; Urð hétu eina, 5. Urðr is called one, aðra Verðandi, 6. the other Verðandi, - skáru á skíði, - 7. - they scraped on a wooden tablet - (örlög seggja, line 12) (12) (“the örlög of humankind” as in 12 with seggja=humankind’s) Skuld ina þriðju. 8. Skuld the third one. Þær lög lögðu, 9. They fixed the laws þær líf kuru 10. lives they chose alda börnum, 11. of the children of humanity, örlög seggja [or 12. örlög of_human_ones [or örlög they said]. segja?]

Norns’ names

The Norns’s names are given in a special order which is certainly significant since the poem specifies that Urðr “is the one” and Skuld “is the third. ” The word urðr is one of the Norse words meaning ‘fate’, as örlög and sköp among others. It is linked to the verb verða, the plural preterit of which is urðu, thus meaning “they became. ” Due to the high frequency of “spinning of the wyrd” on the worldweb, we should be weary of possible Greek influences through the Parcae’s roles. This kind of misunderstanding should be deemed unavoidable since all translators are cultivated persons whose culture has been influenced by the Greek and Latin civilizations – as I am, though a feeble instance. Because of the meaning of urðu, we can suppose that Urðr is somewhat linked to something that happened in the past. Since the Norns do not deal only with individual destinies, we must understand that this ‘past’ actually is the sum of what happened to humankind, including our genetic inheritance, and even more generally the result of the whole evolution of our universe. Verðandi is also linked to verb verða, now in its present participle tense, thus meaning ‘becoming’. Here, there exists really no link with the Parcae since ‘becoming’ is an action that takes some time to occur and I feel cheated by people who claim she is the Norn of present time. Present time is a nice grammatical category but its semantics are almost empty since it has, so to say, a foot in our past and the other foot in our future. Verðandi is the Norn of what is presently under transformation and I see her as the Norn of evolution and action. The word skuld means a debt, i. e. , a commitment that cannot be avoided. When the saga or poetry characters complain of the unavoidable fate decided by the Norns, they essentially refer to Skuld. This name is also associated to a verb, skulu (shall and they shall). Its preterit is skyldi. It thus seems that Skuld is a sort of mix of a present and a past sense. It very clearly does not refer to any period of time, which confirms the doubts that Greek categorizations would apply at all to the Norns.

As announced, the ordering of the three Norns in s. 20 should be significant and as already stated, thus be very weary of an order based on time, namely past, present and future. We propose instead an ordering such that each Norn plays a specific role, while each is active in all three segments of time, but based on logical relationships. The above analysis of name Urðr suggests someone who, as a conscientious doctor provides a complete check-up, or as an auditor provides an audit on the state of affairs. We could thus qualify her as being a controlling authority, who builds up a statement of accounts describing how humankind, and also individuals, have been, and are expected to manage their existence. The role of Verðandi is easier to grasp, she is the active authority who decides on the way the all actors of our universe have behaved and will behave in view of the account provided by Urðr. For Skuld also, her name tells of her role: she is who evaluates the debts, and, with Verðandi’s help sees that the debts are repaid. We could thus call her a repaying authority (more dignified than a simple collector). It is understood that these three activities cooperate among them along the line of time. The order met in s. 20 can be understood as a measure of the amount of direct constraint their decisions wield on people, even though all three are not easy to stand. Controlling asks for no more action than being aware of what has been happening. Acting with efficiency implies a kind of common agreement between the leading authority and the many actors who are involved. When mistakes have been done, the repaying authority is in charge of forcing on the actors what and how they should (skuld) repay, they like it or not.

This analysis has been reflected in our view of örlög, ‘produced’ by the Norns, in a text relative to Örlög in general, with more details in the book Chap I and II of ‘The Magic of Yggdrasill’.

Commentary on the vocabulary and the stanza structure

Dronke chooses to read sær (an accusative singular) that translates as ‘lake’. She argues in favor of this translation using mythological reasons of the magic power of female water beings. Cleasby-Vigfusson, however, insists on the fact that this word is never used for a lake and always for the sea or the ocean. He provides a long list of compound words that illustrates that sær always indicates the ocean or the sea. Dronke’s argument still applies to female marine beings. For example, Anglo-Saxon mythology tells that Beowulf’s only really dangerous adversary has been Grendel’s mother who dwells under the sea. Similarly, Scandinavian mythology says that dead sailors do not join the dwellings of the sea god Ægir, but those of the sea goddess, Rán. Note also that salr does sal in its accusative singular and it stays a possible candidate, even if its mythological power is lower. A standing hall, besides, is more obvious than a standing lake or sea. We should keep in mind these two meanings.

A þollr is a pine-tree. As already pointed out, skaldic poetry often replaces the more general, as here ‘tree’ by the more particular, as here ‘pine-tree’. Due to the context, this is an obvious allusion to the world tree, Yggdrasill. In stanza 60, we find again this way of speech where the word used, þinurr, has the same meaning as þollr.

The verb skára, points at the action of mowing, which is not at all adapted to the context. The experts read skara, which means to scrape/poke and skaru gives ‘they scraped’. The ON grammatical use of verb skara is similar to the one of English language, someone ‘skarar’ an inscription (direct object - called here ‘accusative’) on a support (indirect object - called here ‘dative’). You see that in line 7 the verb is followed with a dative and it carries no accusative, it thus does not specify what the Norns skara. We must also note that line 7 cuts the list of the names of Norns in an almost ‘rude’ way, where from comes the pair of - - added by the editors of the poem. A detailed explanation is provided below.

The preposition á followed by a dative means on/upon. Since most translators do not read line 12 just after line 7, they tend also to forget to translate this slightly useless ‘upon’, in their understanding of these lines. They thus render the unambiguous dative skíði as an accusative: “they scrape wooden tablets. ”

Skíð (here in the dative singular) means a piece of wood or a wooden tablet (incidentally: in another context, it also means ‘ski’). To scrape or incise or carve a tablet or a twig are typical ways to express the action of writing runes.

The verb leggja does lögðu in its preterit plural; it means place/lay/take_care/build/settle.

The verb kjósa does kuru in its preterit plural; it means ‘to choose’.

Lastly, the last line has always given serious trouble to the translators. This ‘seggja’ can be read as the verb segja (to say). With this last choice, örlög is an accusative related to this verb. It can also be read, as chosen here, as seggja, which makes of it the genitive plural of seggr, a messenger (who indeed says ‘something’) and, in poetry, a human person. The choice between the two understandings is complicated because we know that the Middle Ages copyists themselves hesitated: There are two manuscripts (Codex Regius and Hauksbók) the first of which gives ‘seggja' and the second one ‘at segja’. I think that this dilemma has been definitively solved by Elizabeth Jackson in a downloadable paper available at http://userpage. fu-berlin. de/~alvismal/9scaro. pdf . She proposes an elegant solution as follows: “The present article will argue, first, that the verb for line 12 is provided in line 7…)”. This solution consists in keeping seggja and reading line 12 just after line 7: “skáru á skíði/örlög seggja (they scraped on a wooden tablet/the örlög of the humans). Note a significant difference between the two versions. If Norns segja (state) the örlög, any logical person will conclude: “they only state, therefore someone else allots these örlög. ” Jackson’s interpretation makes it clear that the Norns are these who allot humankind’s örlög. **********

Jackson’s argumentation is based on an analysis of the structure of the lists met in both writings, Anglo-Saxon and Norse. Before presenting (in a simplified form!) her argumentation, let us notice that modern writings also show list structures and I just gave you one example of it. The comments above are a list of eight items each member of which is separated from the other by a blank line. I announced the last item list by beginning it with “Lastly, the last line…” and adding a separating line of ‘*’ before the present paragraph. It thus is apart from the list above, which is completely implicit but can be easily guessed due to the ‘markers’ I used. Mrs. Jackson does not do anything odder, even if I supose she has been looked upon as one of her kind, than seeking the list markers of a beginning or an ending that provide a specific list structure, according to the topic of the list. I do not know if she refers to Lévi- Strauss’s structuralism but I see in her work as being a brillant illustration of the hidden structures defining relationships in between the lines of a stanza in Skaldic poetry. She reckons, in the two lists of s. 20, the structural characters similar to the ones of as in other lists, particularly those of lists describing two joined topics, here a list of Norns names and a list of Norns’ actions. In particular, line 7, seemingly oddly inserted in the list of Norns names is an end_of_list marker used elsewhere in much longer lists. The use of ‘at segja’ in line 12 does not respect this structure and imposes upon us to feel line 7 as not fully complete.

A small practical conclusion

When a site talks about Germanic mythology and asserts or implies that Norns spin örlög or wyrd, know that this site confuses Germanic and Greco-Latin mythologies. In the crowd of allusions to destiny, a single poem, called Darraðarljóð and contained in Njáll’s saga, describes the Valkyries (then called 'valfreyur'), and speaks of destiny in the form of a braiding. Moreover, in this poem, the braided ‘threads’ are the entrails of the dead warriors, which does not exclude a Latin influence on Darraðarljóð.

Stanza 21

Old Norse litteral translation Comments and explanations 21. Þat man hón fólcvíg That remember she a war of peoples ‘She’ is here the völva who seems to allude to her fyrst í heimi, first in the world, being Gullveig. er Gullveigo is Gullveig geirom studdo by spears steadied Gullveig means “gold power. ” She causes the oc í höll Hárs and in the hall of Hár (High, Óðinn) war between Æsir and Vanir. She is of Vanr hána brendo; she was burned; ‘race’, and she visits the Æsir. They burn her three times, but it is three times born again. The þrysvar brendo, three times burned war probably starts because of these ill treatments þrysvar borna, three times born, inflicted to Gullveig opt, ósialdan; often, non seldom; þó hón enn lifir. nevertheless she still lives. Hár = the high one, Óðinn English

She remembers a war of peoples the first one in the world, Gullveig is ‘steadied’ (transfixed) by spears and in High’s hall she has been burned;

three times burned, three times born (again), often, not seldom; nevertheless she still lives.

Stanza 22

Old Norse litteral translation Comments and explanations

22. Heiði hana héto, Heiðr her they called I suppose that the völva still speaks about herself. hvars er til húsa kom, when toward homes (she) came Combined with s. 21 this would mean that Gullveig völo velspá, völva well--prophecising and Heiðr are the same person. In regard of Old vitti hon ganda; wise she about sorcery; Norse spirituality, that of an ancestor cult, this statement can be rationalized by saying that they seið hon, hvars hon kunni, seið she, that she knew, belong to the same family line. seið hon hug leikinn, bewiched she a spirit played with Noun seið means ‘witchcraft’. æ var hón angan always was she sweet-smelling siða does seið in the preterit, and leika does leikinn in illrar brúðar. to bad wives. the past participle. English The word heidr has three principal meanings: shining, heather and honor. This name is often the They called her Heiðr, one of a witch or a völva

when she travelled to a dwelling, 1. A völva who always prophecies that “all will be as a völva (she was able to) well well” be really honest. prophesize, she was wise in witchcraft; 2. Her magic was intended to delude naive minds.

Seið, she knew well 3. She is a friend to bad wives who deal with magic. she bewitched deluded minds, her smell always was sweet to bad wives.

Lines 5 and 6 contain a pun that contains repetitions somewhat characteristic of magic incantations. In line 5, seiðr is a direct object complement of the verb kunna (to know) and thus gives seið. In line 6, seið is the singular past of verb siða (to magically enchant): ‘she bewitched’. This repetition is not simple and is extremely prestigious since hard to imagine. It magically emphasizes the völva’s magic. Note also its ‘non-rhymed’ alliterative wealth: seið hon, hvars hon kunni, --> seið hon hug leikinn <--

Three criticisms (1., 2. and 3. above) directed against witches may seem an obvious Christian influence. This is possible though not certain because even in pagan times witches were tolerated but not appreciated. The last line reflects the fact that a good wife does not hang out in the company of witches. The distrust of Norse pagans for witches is illustrated by the Eddic poem Hávamál. We recall again that the numerous attempts to prove the existence of Christian influences on Hávamál have been politely ridiculed by the experts (see the Second Intermezzo following Hávamál stanza 21 at http://www.nordic-life.org/nmh/ALLNewHavamalEng.htm ). Hávamál is therefore an example of an Eddic poem that has undergone negligible Christian influences.

Stanza 23

Old Norse literal translation Comments and explanations

23. Þá gengo regin öll Then went divinities all In the 4 last lines, Æsir discuss among themselves á röcstóla, on judgement-stools, to decide if they will agree to pay tribute for their ginnheilög goð, ‘sacred’ saint gods ruthless behaviour toward Gullveig or if war is oc um þat gættuz, and for this they obtained, more desirable. hvárt scyldo æsir if should æsir The form hvárt… eða classically means: either… afráð gialda a tribute (for harm done) to beg or. eða scyldo goðin öll or else if should gods all gildi eiga. a banquet to have English The first for lines are indentical to those of s. 9. Afráð means, as gildi, ‘tribute to pay’ but it can … also mean ‘festival, banquet’. If the æsir should Here, I understand that this alludes to the merry beg (peace in exchange of) a tribute banquet that takes place before departure for battle. or if all gods should set up a banquet (before going to battle the following day).

Stanza 24

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

24. Fleygði Óðinn Let fly Óðinn This gesture announces the beginning of the oc í fólc um scaut, and in the army beyond the area (of the battle. It is attested by a saga describing a warrior enemy army) who launches his spear above his enemies first þat var enn fólcvíg that was a people-war rank, which announces the beginning of the fyrst í heimi; first in the world ; battle. When Óðinn acts in this way, the army flown over by his lance is supposed to perish at brotinn var borðveggr broken was the enclosure once. Here, obviously, that did not happen this borgar ása, of castle of Æsir, way and Vanir won the war, as said the last four knátto vanir vígspá were-able-of Vanir of victory-magic lines, and confirmed by Snorri’s Edda. völlo sporna. the field they trod. English This stanza provides a summary of the war between the Vanir and the Æsir,. The reader is Óðinn let fly his spear supposed to know the feature of the following beyond the army area, peace: fusion of the two families, hostage exchange etc. See HERE a version of this myth. that was a people-war the first in the world; “They trod the field” is a way of saying that, instead of being a pack of corpses, as they broken was the enclosure ‘should’ have been after Óðinn threw his spear, of Æsir’s castle, the Vanir were still living and they were proudly Vanir were able of victory-magic walking upon the field. and the field they trod.

Stanza 25

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

25. Þá gengo regin öll Then went the gods all This stanza refers to the myth of building a wall á röcstóla, on judgement-stools protecting Ásgarðr. The reader is supposed to ginnheilog goð, ‘sacred’ saints gods know the whole story that you will find find oc um þat gættuz, and from that obtained, HERE, hverir hefði lopt alt who had air all lævi blandit with evilness blended eða ætt iötuns and (to) family Giants The rest of the myth shows that here also, Freyja Óðs mey gefna. of Óðr the maid offered is Óðr’s wife. English

Then all the gods went The last four lines are relative to Ásgarðr’s to their judgement-stools, ambiance when the Æsir realize that the ‘worker’ ‘sacred’ saints gods, will fill up his contract terms, and that they will and from that obtained have to deliver to him Freyja (Óðr’s wife), Sun and Moon.

who had blended the whole atmosphere with evilness and to Giant family had offered Óðr’s maid.

Stanza 26

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

26. Þórr einn þar vá, Þórr alone there fought, This stanza describes the end of the myth when þrunginn móði full of anger Þórr has killed the Giant. hann sialdan sitr he seldom sits er hann slíct um fregn; when he such be informed. The first half of the stanza alludes to Þórr’s arrival á genguz eiðar, gone oaths, when the Æsir realize that their ‘worker’ actually is a orð oc sœri, words and swearings, Giant. This why Þórr, who has been away, is mál öl meginlig, words/measures all powerful ‘informed’ of the situation and he will kill this Giant. er á meðal fóro. which between (them) travelled. English The Æsir had a deal with this ‘worker-Giant’ that had Full of anger, Þórr been made explicit by a contract. Since he hid that he alone there fought was a Giant, this contract does not hold anymore and the oaths they shared (upon which they ‘travelled’) he seldom stays sitting are gone away. when he is informed of such news.

Full gone were oaths, A broken oath is nevertheless always a shame and the words and swearings, Æsir have been shamed on this occasion. all powerful measures that they had shared.

Stanza 27

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

27. Veit hón Heimdalar Knows she (that) Heimdall’s the noise (the The four first lines of 27 describe a myth related hlióð um fólgit noisy horn) entrusted to Heimdall and the last four lines refer to various undir heiðvönom under ‘needing- serenity’ myths relating to Óðinn, together with stanzas 28, helgom baðmi; sacred tree; 29, 30. Heimdall’s horn is hidden in the roots of á sér hón ausaz on looks she self-gushing Yggdrasill, near to or under Urðr’s well. aurgom forsi ‘in a’ muddy torrent af veði Valföðrs - off guarantee of Killedfather The world tree is “in need for serenity” because of the multiple constraints and hits it undergoes. vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? You know still, and what?

English Óðinn entrusted an eye to the source of Urðr She knows (that) Heimdall’s noisy which is the ‘pledge’ he had to provide in order to horn has been entrusted be allowed to drink wisdom from this spring.

to the ‘in lack of serenity’ sacred tree;

she looks on a muddy torrent It is interesting to note that Urðr’s spring, always that self-gushes presented as a pure and clear water, is here qualified as muddy. Our stereotypes may need off Óðinn’s pledge some revision.

You still want to know, and what ?

Stanza 28

Literal translation Comments and explanations Old Norse One was sitting she outside, A way of practicing seið is called ‘útiseta’, that is: 28. Ein sat hon úti, then him old came, “seta úti = to sit down outside.” The völva þá er inn aldni kom, Dreadful-young of Æsir, and in the eye certainly says that she was practicing this form of Yggiungr ása,oc í augo looked : seiðr when Óðinn arrived. This is a solitary leit: “What ask you to me practice, in opposition to the public one carried why do you try me? out on a wooden platform. 'Hvers fregnit mic, The ‘old one’ and the ‘young one’ are two faces Hví freistið mín? All know I, Óðinn, of Óðinn. where thou (you) eye hid alt veit ec, Óðinn, in it the famous Dronke acknowledges ignoring what exactly Hvar þú auga falt: Mímir’s spring. means the suffix ‘jungr’. A young one is currently í inom mæra Drinks mead Mímir, called úngr but júngr is also possible. The völva Mímis brunni. ' morning each one calls Óðinn ‘Old one’ as everyone else, but she Dreccr miöð,” off the pledge of Valföðr - may wish to underline that Óðinn, and all Æsir morgin hverian with him, are much younger af veði Valföðrs – You know still, and what?

Vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? ” English than she is. This is indeed plausible if she is a Giantess born at the origins of the world. She alone was sitting outside, That would also explain why she allows herself to then came he, the old one, sometimes treat Óðinn as a young one.

Æsir’s dreadful young one, and he looked at me in the eyes: “What do you asked me This ‘you’ is in ON an explicit plural. This why do you try me? suggests that Óðinn is acting as a representative of the other Æsir.

I know all of it, Óðinn, where thou hid your eye That Mímir drinks a “morning mead” may hint at in this famous the fact that a sacred drink flows from Mímir’s Mímir’s spring. spring. Anyhow, this means that, each morning, Mímir drinks mead, Mímir holds a ritual consecrating the new day.

each morning The way of speech “Valföðr’s pledge” is off Valföðr’s pledge - explained in s. 27 just above.

You still want to know, and what ?

Stanza 29

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

29. Valdi henni Herföðr Chose for her Her-föðr (Army-father, Óðinn ) The völva tells that Óðinn offered her many hringa oc men, rings and necklaces, precious jewels in order to learn from her to fécc spjöll spaclig he collected spells wise ‘send’ curses and to foresee the future. og spáganda, and vision-sticks, And this teaching enriched her (hon) world- sá hon vítt oc um vítt saw she far and wide view, not Óðinn’s. of verold hveria. over world all. It seems that he claims that he also enriched his world-view through a similar process, in Hávamál 141: “I then became fertile / and was full of knowledge / and grew and well throve, / a word, out of my speech, / English looked for another word, / a word, out of my speech, looked for help / a deed, out of my Óðinn selected for her deeds, / looked for another deed. ” rings and necklaces, Óðinn and this völva therefore are old he collected wise spells acquaintances, another fact that explains her casualness with Óðinn. and ways for magic seeing, all over the world she saw wide and far.

Stanza 30

Old Norse Literal translation – ‘English’

She saw valkyries 30. Sá hon valkyrior, from far they came vítt um komnar, gorvar at ríða greedy for riding til goðþióðar; towards goth-people (OR god-people) ;

Skuld held a shield, Sculd helt scildi, and Skögul another one, enn Scögul önnor, Gunnr, Hildr, Göndul Gunnr, Hildr, Göndul oc Geirscögul; and Geirskögul ;

now are counted nú ero talðar the maiden of the War Leader (Óðinn), nönnor Herians, gorvar at ríða greedy for riding grund, valkyrior. (across) earth, Valkyries.

Commentaries on s. 30

"Goðþióð” is usually translated by “ people of Goths” where goð means a ‘goth’. This meaning refers to the usual role of a Valkyrie who selects the heroes who will join Valhöll. In the context of Ragnarök, however, we can understand that the völva speaks of the “people of the gods” (goð or guð means ‘god '). This version suggests that the Valkyries are ‘eager’ to get rid of Óðinn’s supervision, as will happen after Ragnarök. The two meanings are then both possible.

Skuld is also the name of a Norn, and this word means ‘debt’. This role of “who demands the debts to be paid” can also be the one of a Valkyrie who is not necessarily confused with Norn Skuld. Skögul is undoubtedly related to the verb skaga (De Vries) to project, to exceed = ‘who holds up’ (before launching axe or lance). Gunnr = Battle, Hildr = Combat, Göndul = “who handles magic, wizard. ” These names evoke the witches who participated to combat, the ‘alrunæ’. Geirskögul = “Who holds up a lance. ”

As in the case of Dwarves, the völva simply provides a list of names. The reader is again supposed to understand the hidden meaning of these names.

This ends the description of Óðinn’s majesty by the völva. The following stanzas 31, 32 and 33 deal with the myth of Baldr’s death. They contain the first magic throbbing that will lead the gods towards Ragnarök.

Stanza 31

31. Ek sá Baldri, I looked at Baldr blóðgum tívur, blood-covered divine being, Óðins barni, Óðinn’s son, örlög fólgin; (his) örlög hidden; stóð of vaxinn was standing (fully) grown völlum hæri in the fields taller mjór ok mjög fagr slender and very beautiful mistilteinn. mistletoe.

Comment on the vocabulary

The verb sjá, to see, gives sá in its preterit first person. The name of god Baldr is in the dative case so that we must read verb sá á (to ‘see on’ = to look at). This meaning will expands to the two following lines. On the other hand, örlög in line 4 is in the accusative case, one must thus understand ‘sá’ alone and the völva says that she saw his hidden örlög. The declension of tívi as tívur is somewhat irregular. This word is used in general in the plural and its dative is ‘normally’ tívum. Dronke tries to find an explanation to this variation and she fails finding a convincing one… I’ll certainly not do better than her! The verb fela, to hide, confuse/entrust, its past participle is folginn. The adjective hár, high, does hæri in the comparative. Mistletoe is ‘higher’ that the other trees or plants.

Comment on the meaning of the stanza

After being run through by Höðr’s arrow, Baldr’s corpse has certainly been covered with blood. If we try to see an allusion here, we can reasonably think of no one else than Óðinn, wounded by a spear while hanging at the world tree. He had also to be blood-covered, as described in Hávamál stanza 138. In addition, it seems that the warriors who did not die in combat could nevertheless join Óðinn in Valhöll by being ‘marked’ with “Óðinn’s sign” by a spear, another bloody process related to Óðinn. Baldr’s örlög is hidden as everyone’s else. It however seems that Frigg and Óðinn were informed of anyone’s örlög, as that is noted several times in Eddic poems. Since this stanza underlines this topic, it must mean that neither Frigg nor Óðinn were able to forsee their son’s fate, which should surprise us. We already spoke of the gods’ panic when they were aware of Baldr’s imminent death. Note 3 of the text on “Örlög” http://www. nordic-life. org/nmh/OrlogEng. htm even says that Óðinn believed that the Hamingjur - certainly those of the gods’ clan - had left as long as such a disaster could occur. Baldr is the first to die within the gods’ family and we can easily imagine that his death announces that other Æsir could die as well. Baldr’s death can thus be looked upon as the first signal of Ragnarök’s arrival. The last four last lines further increase the feeling of ‘end of a world’ for the Æsir. One of the three ‘actors’ in their son’s murder, mistletoe, is proudly standing on the fields, as if pointing out their ultimate mortality, even if a long-term one. It may seem that the universal chaos forces have been defeated by the Æsir, but they strikingly, though poetically, force the Æsir to remember them, through a vigorous mistletoe branch. We can assume that the name ‘mistletoe’ points at a mythical plant the botanical name of which is unknown, since it cannot “proudly stand in the fields. ” Celtic religions gave a mythical status to botanical mistletoe, it quite possible that Norse people chose this name to point at a magical tree.

A short comment: How happens that Mistletoe appears in Völuspá ?

We will comment later, and more thoroughly, the presence in this stanza of an aggressively triumphant mistletoe. However, it is also interesting to point out an interpretation inspired by C. G. Jung’s comments on the links between an ambiguous maternal archetype and the Frigg-Baldr couple as reported in https://www.academia.edu/35169010/An_unconscious_mother- sons_relation_between_Frigg_and_Baldr This text highlights the possibility for mistletoe to be an unconscious part of Baldr's psyche, called his ‘shadow’ by Jung. Here this ‘shadow’ grew up and is visibly embodied in a beautiful tree. We tried to identify this beautiful mistletoe to the person of Christ but it leads to so many contradictions that this track has been stopped. It is perhaps more necessary to considerably refine the maternal archetype and probably to link it to Loki to give meaning to all these myths. This can not be done quickly but it will (hopefully) happen.

Stanza 32

Literal translation Comments and explanations Old Norse Was of this stick This stanza appears meaningless if it is not 32. Varð af þeim meiði, that slim self-appeared as connected to well-known myths. er mær (mjór) sýndiz, harm-elk dangerous The four first lines say that mistletoe, slim and harmflaug hættlig, Höðr learned to fling. very beautiful (s. 31) was in fact a “fated missile Höðr nam scióta. of harm. ” Baldur’s brother was The last four lines directly pass to Höðr’s Baldurs bróðir var born soon punishment. of borinn snemma, this one learned, Óðinn’s son, sá nam, Óðins sonr, (in) one night (to) smite. Baldr, Höðr, et Vali are all Óðinn’s sons. einnættr vega. English Höðr is blind and he kills Baldr, being pushed by This fateful stick Loki’s slyness. Vali, who is one night old, will that looked slim avenge Baldr by killing Höðr (“he learned to smite in a single night”). actually was a harm-missile that Höðr learned to fling. Vali is called “Baldr’s brother” to underline that Baldur’s brother was he avenges his brother and “Óðinn’s son” to born soon underline the miraculous speed of his growth and his relationship to Baldr. and, Óðinn’s son, he learned to smite in a single night.

Comments on s. 32

The most obvious remark to do about the episode of Baldr’s death is that it is similar to the one of Christ’s death. Here are two beings exceptional by several standards, loved by everyone, beautiful and luminous, endowed with a powerful charisma. And both are killed at the beginning of their life. How to avoid assigning them to the same archetypal type? Nevertheless, a closer analysis of both courses of life leads to the realization that they embody two opposite prototypes. Christ, even if looked upon as partially divine throughout his life, lives a human life among human ones. Only at his death will he reach a full divine status. His death, moreover, announces an eternal new religious era that will last even after Doomsday. In fact, Baldr’s life runs the opposite. He is born a god and carries out a life among the gods. He is unaware of any feature of human condition - at least no myth describes him mingling with humankind. After his death, and this in spite of the gods’ attempts, he will join the human ones in Hel, and he will thus lose his divine status. Lastly, his death illustrates in a dazzling way that gods can die and it preludes to Ragnarök, thus announcing the end of a religion centered around Óðinn and Freyr. That Norse have been influenced or not by Christendom is of no import since Christ’s and Baldr’s destinies of are completely opposite, in spite of a surface similarity. *** - In the preceding stanza, mistletoe is qualified as mjór, that is ‘slim’, which gives to it an attractive feature. This word can take the form mær with the same meaning, as it does in the poem. Of course, this evokes the other meaning, more usual, of mær: ‘young girl, maiden’. The poet wants to say that mistletoe exerts a form of attraction, similar to the one of a slim young girl. In this case, attraction is morbid and mistletoe is the tool of Baldr’s death. All this has been made possible by the great show of Baldr’s impunity but this show itself is either stupid or morbid. - The way of speech harm-elk is a way of speaking of a kind of missile since Höðr threw a spear or an arrow at Baldr. - The only allusion, here, to the fact that Höðr could be influenced is that he “learned how to launch. ” In particular, Snorri explains why Höðr was pushed by Loki’s trick to Baldr’s killing, therefore Loki is also guilty. Some refuse this version “imagined by Snorri”, but the culpability of Loki in this myth is found elsewhere. For a longer discussion, consult my summary of Dumézil’s Loki or, still better, read his book.

Stanza 33

Old Norse Translation Comments and explanations This ‘He’ is certainly Óðinn who is mourning his 33. Þó hann æva hendr Though he never hands (washed) son. We suppose that “the hands” means “did not né höfuð kembdi, nor head combed wash his hands. ” áðr á bál um bar Valhöll = “Residence of killed ones,” where the until on a pyre (they ? ) carried warriors who died in the combat gather after Baldrs andscota; Baldr’s ennemy (Höðr); death. They will fight at Óðinn’s side during Ragnarök and thus will die with him. This Enn Frigg um grét But Frigg wept explains why Baldr’s death announcing Ragnarök í Fensölum in Fensalir is a tragedy for Valhöll. vá Valhallar – the tragedy of Valhöll - Höðr is called here “Baldr’s ennemy. ” Frigg is Baldr’s mother, and she cries the death of her son as all mothers do wherever in the world. Vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? You still want to know, and what ? Fensalir = “Hall of the marshes”, is the name of Frigg’s residence.

Let us recall that Ursula Dronke sees here a “typically Christian” stereotype because Frigg was crying over her dead (and bloodied) son. This explains nothing else then why she, a Christian, recognizes this stereotype here. This does not mean that this stereotype cannot belong to other civilizations, even if they are ‘primitive’.

Note also that she notices Frigg’s behavior of but that she seems to forget the one of Óðinn who follows a rigorous mourning so long as Höðr is not killed and carried on a funerary pyre, that is to say a behavior of pagan violence that required by Óðinn’s revenge. The latter is placed in a situation without real issue. He must avenge Baldr’s death, and he knows that the only possible avenger is another of his sons whose mother must be the goddess Rindr. In short, to avenge the death of his son Baldr killed by his son Höðr, he must beget with Rindr a third son to kill the second one. In the end, he takes on himself this second murder that he will pay with his life at the time of Ragnarök. It was not only because of jealousy that Loki helped Höðr to kill Baldr, but because he knew that he was going to trap Óðinn so that “fell the sweet love of Frigg” as says s. 53.

The following stanza goes directly to the punishment inflicted on Loki by the Æsir, leaving aside ‘details’ of great importance. The poet knew that this episode was very famous and we can suppose that he wanted to induce his listeners to fill up the void he creates himself between s. 33 and s. 34. Óðinn will try to seduce Rindr but she will turn him down. After several unsuccessful other seducing attempts, he will resort to force and therefore his duty to avenge Baldr will lead him to rape her, adding a shameful behavior to the impossible situation in which he is engaged. The following stanza goes directly to the punishment inflicted on Loki by the Æsir, leaving aside ‘details’ of great importance. The poet knew that this episode was very famous and we can suppose that he wanted to induce his listeners to fill up the void he creates himself between s. 33 and s. 34. In sum, there will be a weregild for the assassination of Baldr: Óðinn himself.

It turns out that the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf reports a similar case. Anglo- Saxons were however Christianized long before the Norse and the hero parallel to Óðinn will precisely behave much more Christian-like than Óðinn: will simply wither in his dilemma. This episode is in Beowulf, lines 2435 - 2443. King Hreðel has two sons and, by an unfortunate chance, one of them will miss the target he is aiming at and he kills “broðor oðerne blodigan gare (a brother the other (with) a bloody trait).” Finally, the king recognizes that he can do nothing better than to compose a “Blood sarigne, þonne his sunu hangağ song of pain for his hanged son, hrefne to hroðre ...” for the delight of crows ...

Note that the corpse of the dead son is probably hanging from a tree, according to ancient Germanic rites and evokes famous and complex Hávamál s. 138. Note also that Dronke notices Frigg’s behavior while she seems to forget Óðinn’s who follows a rigorous mourning as long as Höðr is not killed and carried on a funerary burner, that is to say a behavior of pagan violence that requires revenge on the part of Óðinn. The latter is thus placed in a situation without real issue. He must avenge Baldr's death, and he knows that the only possible avenger is another of his sons whose mother must be the goddess Rindr. In short, to avenge the death of his son Baldr killed by his son Höðr, he must beget with Rindr a third son to kill the second.He will finally take on himself this second murder that he will pay with his life at the time of Ragnarök. It is quite probable that Loki did not help Höðr to kill Baldr out of jealousy, but because he knew that he was going to trap Óðinn so that would “fell the sweet love of Frigg” as says s. 53.

Stanza 34

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

34. Þá kná Vála However was able Váli Here again, we meet an obvious lapse of vígbönd snúa, battle-bonds to twist information, easily filled up with an episode of heldr vóro harðgerhöpt, rather were hard-quite-chains old Scandinavian mythology: ór þörmom. (done) out of entrails. Loki will be punished of his crime by being bound with his son’s intestines.

English

Váli was however able We learn here that Váli will be the organizer of to twist battle-bonds the torture inflicted to Loki.

that were rather quite hard chains ‘battle bonds’ seem to be particularly resistant (done) out of entrails. bonds.

This stanza tells us that Váli is the one who twisted the bonds that hold Loki under the mouth of a serpent that let flow its poisened spit on Loki. From other sources, we also know that Váli, son of Rindr, is also Höðr killer, i.e. Baldr’s avenger. Óðinn has been warned that Baldr’s avenger had to be a son that he had to beget with a woman named Rindr.

In GB (2013), Pétur Pétursson and Véstein Ólason use a very difficult to counter argument since it is vague and therefore vaguely true. They claim that “medieval images inspire some of the visions of the poem Völuspá.” In s. 34 above, a prisoner is chained by means of entrails, which is perhaps brutally medieval, but really opposed to any kind of Christian charity. In the following stanza s 35 an unhappy wife is described watching over her fettered husband. This is then more a universal image than a specifically medieval one. Such loose discussions could run on and on for each of the poem stanzas, and it seems vaguely dishonest to use these arguments to emphasize dubious specifics of the poem.

Stanza 35

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

35. Hapt sá hon liggia A prisoner saw she to lie down hveralundr = the grove of the cauldrons. undir hvera lundi, under a boiler-grove That must refer to a thicket growing near an lægiarns líki humbled in the like ebullient volcanic source. Loca áþeccian; of Loki non-pleasant. ***This half stanza when ‘re- Preposition undir means ‘under’ and ordered’ as in English ***[‘re-ordered’ literal translation] metaphorically ‘under the power of’. (Dronke)] Hon sá hapt áþeccian líki Loca She saw bonded a non-pleasant prisoner lægiarns, liggja undir hvera lundi. similar to Loki humbled, to lie down *** under a boiler--grove. *** I do not understand why “not-pleasant” must

evoke a tricky Loki as traditional þar sitr Sigyn, here sits Sigyn, translations do. His situation is unpleasant, þeygi um sínom in spite of she near her he is humiliated, bound to live in a kind of ver velglýiuð – husband non well-merry - outdoor boiling kettle, why adding some

more? Vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? You know still, and what? English

An unpleasant prisoner, she saw lying down under a ‘boiler—grove’

and shaped as the body According to Snorri, a snake spits its venom of a humbled Loki. on Loki’s face. Sigyn, his wife, protects him by collecting venom in a pot before it There, Sigyn sits reaches him. Völuspá does not give these in spite of being near her details that became legendary. husband she feels no merriness.

You want to know more, and what?

Stanza 36

Old Norse Translation Comments and explanations

36. Á fellr austan A river falls from the East In eitur-dala the word ‘eitr’ (poison) is twice used. It everywhere in the poisoned dales, obviously qualifies dalr (= valley) but it is also coupled um eiturdala, to á (= river) of the first line forming eitr-á, a poisoned (done) with short sabers and river. söxom oc sverðom: swords: A ‘sax’ is a short heavy sword very much used in the Slíðr heitir sú. Frightening it is called. Viking time. Slíðr = Frightening.

Stanza 37

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

37. Stóð fyr norðan, Stood to the North niða-vellir = ‘waning moon –fields’ á Niðavöllom on Fields of Waningmoon salr úr gulli a hall made of gold Sindri = name of a Dwarf, and sindr means ‘red glowing’ as Sindra ættar; of Redglowing of kinfolk; very hot metal in a smithy. His ætt (family) includes all Dwarves. enn annar stóð and also stood à Ókólni on Non-cold The name Brimir means Sea or Surf. biórsalr iötuns, bier-hall of a Jötun enn sá Brimir heitir. and this one Surf is named. English Ó-kólnir = Non-cold, from verb kólna = to become cold. The name Ókólnir sounds awkward for a Jötun (= a Giant) Stood to the North since they are often said to live in cold places. This Giant, on Waningmoon Fields, however, is a very special one. His hall is a brewery and his name, Surf or Sea, suggests some link with the sea god, made of gold, the hall Ægir. A hint is provided by the prose commentaries at the of Redglowing’s kinfolk; beginning of Lokasenna : “After getting the large cauldron, Ægir, also named Gymir, prepared bier for the Æsir.” All and also stood this tends to suggests that Brimir is also a hallowed bier on Non-cold provider for the Æsir.

the bier-hall of a Jötun All the Dwarves and Jötnar Brimir/Ægir/Gymir are among and this one Surf is named. the gods’ allies.

Voir : Opening Doors – Entering Social Understandings of the Viking Age Longhouse Anna S. Beck “En tout, ont été étudiées 270 longères dans 85 sites (41 sur Sealand, 44 en Scania)” https://www.academia.edu/8438640/A._S._Beck_2014_Opening_doors_- _Entering_Social_Understanding_of_the_Viking_Age_Long_House._I_M._S._Kristiansen_ and_K._Giles_red._Dwellings_Identities_and_Homes._European_Housing_Culture_from_th e_Viking_Age_to_the_Renaissance._H%C3%B8jbjerg_Jysk_Ark%C3%A6ologisk_Selskab. _127-138

Stanza 38

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

38. Sal sá hon standa A hall I see stand sólo fiarri from sun far-from (deprived of)) Náströndo á, Náströnd in/on, Ná-strönd = Corpse-shore. norðr horfa dyrr; (toward) North are turned the doors, féllo eitrdropar fall poison-drops inn um lióra, inside through roof ventilation, The roof ventilations let out the fires smoke and let light sá er undinn salur this is twisted hall in. orma hryggjom. of serpents (with) backbones. undinn = p. p. vinda = ‘twist, plait (roughly)’ English

I see a hall standing far from the sun in Náströnd, all its doors face North,

drops of poison fall inside through roof ventilation, this hall is roughly plaited with serpent backbones.

Véstein Ólason (NordAp, pp. 25-44) claims the content of this stanza “could easily have been added to the poem in the twelfth or even thirteenth century.” This kind of claim is obviously possible though totally unconvincing for two concording reasons. 1. Archeological results tend to suggest that these halls are remains of an ancient tradition within the Scandinavian world as reported by many archeologists. For instance, Marianne Hem Eriksen (see bibliography) notes increasingly large halls since the fifth century and Anna S. Beck informs her readers that: “In all, information of 270 longhouses from 85 sites (41 on Sealand, 44 in Scania) was collected.” 2. The word used here to point at a hall is not höll but salr. In her paper in Viking Worlds (2015) Lydia Carstens argues about a difference of timing in the use of these two words. In order to claim that, for one, salr is much older than höll because the first is used mainly in poetry, while the second appears mostly in prose. For two, she uses a slight difference in their meanings : höll appears to apply only to a kingly hall, while salr cannot. Kings appearing late in Scandinavia, salr is the oldest of the two words.

Independently of the salr/höll debate we have also to take into account that this stanza specifies the doors of this salr have been opening to the North. Relying again on archeology, we know that longhouses dated 720-970 generally offer two entrances, one on each side of the longer portion of the house, but they are not ‘facing each other’, as it has been traditional since Bronze age (i. e. from 13th BCE) until 720 (Eriksen 2019 pp. 44). That the salr in s. 38 opens only to the North underlines its use for welcoming creatures of the North. Since Surtr comes from the South, this feature implies that Yggdrasill is attacked from the two main sides, North and South.

Ref: Marianne Hem Eriksen, ‘Architecture, Society, and Ritual in Viking Age Scandinavia’ Cambridge Univ. Press, 2019.

Stanza 39

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

39. Sá hon þar vaða Sees she there to wade þunga strauma (in) heavy streams The action probably takes place on Náströnd, menn meinsvara people perjurer ones Corpse-Shore. oc morðvarga, and criminal-monsters, oc þannz annars glepr and who of others wheedles “mein-svari” = bad-oath (perjury) eyrarúno; ear-secret wives; “morðvargr” = ‘criminal-wolf’, where morð indicates who committed a particularly infamous þar saug Niðhöggr There sucked Niðhöggr crime (for example, killing a defenseless enemy), nái framgengna, ‘at’ the corpse of the dead ones and vargr = wolf or monster. sleit vargr vera - slit a wolf/monster human ones -

Vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? You know still, and what? English

She sees here wading The word eyrarúna, meaning “wife” is composed in heavy streams of eyra = ear, and rún = rune or secrecy. In this a crowd of perjurers way of speech, a wife’s ear hosts all kind of and criminal monsters, secrecies. To wheedle such a woman is not only and who wheedles adultery but treason since she may in good faith provide crucial information. This aspect is not entrusted wives; rendered in traditional translations, such as “tempting beloved ones. ” There Niðhöggr sucked the dead corpses, Nið-höggr = Nið-högg- ormr = of the bottom- a monstrous wolf viper. This is the dragon, or the snake that lives in the roots of Yggdrasill of which it prevents the carved human bodies up. - growth. It is called usually Níð-höggr = ‘hatred-he strikes, You want to know more, and what? as explained in the commentary of stanza 19.

Henning Kure (GB pp. 79-91) compares Revelation 21.8 and Völuspá s. 39. Revelation 21.8 reads: But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. (https://topbible.topchretien.com/apocalypse.21.9/WEB/

Both texts point at people who, clearly, misbehaved. The punishment of sins is indeed very typical of a Christian context, although we must not forget that the ancient Nordic civilization had its own definitions of crime. First, let us note that northern criminals “wade through heavy currents,” which is quite different from “having a second death in a lake in flames.” We know several cases where Nordic personalities have waded without including social degradation. Kure is far from being ignorant that such a wading is evoked in another poem, Reginsmál, s. 4 where Loki asks Andvari the price to be paid by slanderers who have harmed others people. Andvari answers “that they must cross Vaðgelmir ...,” which evokes a punishment. Inversely, Grímnismál s. 21 tells that dead warriors heading for Valhöll must cross a river whose current seems too powerful for the “valglaumi at vaða (valr-glaumr = dead warrior) to wade there.” He describes a group of happy heroes on the road to Valhöll. From these examples, Kure suggests that since “there is no similarity to the Apocalypse in this case, it could indicate that wading is an original Nordic trait.” As we can see, in Kure's mind, wading confirms a Christian influence when such influence has been observed, while ‘wading’ becomes an original Nordic trait when Christian influence is not possible. This reasoning is summarized as follows: “Belief in Christian influence proves Christian influence,” which is largely true, though weakly convincing.

Völuspá speaks of people who actually violated three of the main Nordic rules of honor, namely a “criminal monster” who killed someone and did not claim it (thus preventing his family from starting conciliation negotiations), a “perjured oath” which points at a particular liar which is different from “all the liars” stigmatized in Apocalypse, and a “confidante seducer” who steals from this woman information valuable to her official companion. We have no striking case of the latter crime in which the sexual offense is secondary to the implicit loss of secret information.

On the contrary, two famous oath perjurers are well known. Hávamál s 110 declares, as a comment to Gunnlöð’s rejection by Óðinn : Oath on the ring, Óðinn, I think, he granted; what to believe of his sincerities?

These lines tell that Óðinn himself has perjured his oath to Gunnlöð - a capital Northern shame. The fact that he has lied to her at the same time is of little importance in this myth. The other case is that of the oaths between Sigurðr and Brynhildr mentioned in Sigrdrífumál s. 31: It munuð alla You will both want eiða vinna passing oaths fullfastliga the firmest fá munuð halda. Little will you hold.

We know that Sigurðr will drink a magic potion concocted by Grímhildr that will make him forget his oath, but the fact that he was drugged does not erase the shame of a perjured oath.

There could be other similarities between the vocabulary used by Revelation 21.8 and Völuspá s. 39 but, as soon as a more detailed analysis is performed, it shows to what extent their meanings are profoundly different.

Stanza 40

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

40. Austr sat hin aldna To the East sits she old one This old woman must be the Giantess who begot í Iárnviði in Ironwood Fenrir wolf and Hel with Loki. Hel is the godess of oc fœddi þar and (she) feeds there the place where stay human ones who have not been Fenris kindir; Fenrir’s kindred; chosen, neither by Freyja nor by Óðinn. The opposition between iron and wood exists in Old verðr af þeim öllom becomes of them all Norse: jarn = iron, viðr = wood. The translation einna noccorr one main “forest of iron” is not faulty, but does not render the tungls tiúgari of the lamp (moon) the pitch-fork oxymoron of ‘wood of iron’. ' í trollz hami. in of a troll shape/skin. For the Norse, the ‘lamp of the sky’ is not the sun but the moon.

English tiúgari = pitchfork, hayfork. This ‘main one’ will catch the moon, as hay with a pitchfork, to remove An old woman sits to the East ‘him’ from the celestial canopy. tranlation note : einna is and she feeds there Note that the text does not describe this action as a not a feminine singular destruction but as a removal. accusative, which would Fenrir’s kindred; eina. Einna the plural This hayfork user is undoubtedly Fenrir which is the génitive of einn used as an The main of them all most spectacular of Loki’s children. To carry out his intensive: “this ‘one’ will become, deed, he will have to slip into a Giant’s skin in order overall. ” in the skin of a troll, to magically acquire his strength (and to be able to handle such a huge hayfork). the pitch-fork of the moon. Translating here hamr by ‘shape’ instead of ‘skin’ is not false but it underscores the inversed analogy of someone slipping in a wolf skin in order to become a hugely strong werewolf.

Kees Samplonius (GL p. 127-128) sees here a typically Middle Age image illustrating in many Christian texts how much a wolf, hence Fenrir, is dangerous.

Nicely pagan myth of Týr’s lost of his arm would certainly be an even better illustration.

Stanza 41

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

41. Fylliz fiörvi It fills itself fully with the life In this comment, the sign (B) indicates that the feigra manna, of dying (‘fated-to-death’) human ones, word just before are those of Boyer’s translation rýðr ragna siöt it reddens of the gods the dwelling (p. 543 of his ‘Edda poétique’). rauðum dreyra; with red blood ; This ‘it’ must again point at Fenrir. svort verða sólscin black becomes sunshine The word fjör (singular dative fjörvi) means ‘life’ of sumor eptir, of summers after and not ‘flesh’ (B) or any other physical body part. veðr öll válynd – winds all shifty - “To fill oneself up with life” evokes more a magic operation, such as slipping into a Giant’s skin, than Vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? You know still, and what? jaws slapping. English Inversely, the red gore is very material. Fenrir is a being more complex than a famished wolf. Fenrir fills itself up with the dying ones’ life, The word sjót or sjöt, does not mean ‘seat’, as a chair (B), but ‘seat’ as the residence of an abstract the gods’ dwelling reddens entity (e. g. the seat of a company). Here, it points with red blood ; at a dwelling (or a group of human).

black becomes sunshine The last line does not mean that “storms are of the following summers terrifying” (B) but that the winds are all shifty become the winds - unforeseeable.

You want to know more, and what? What brings back Ragnarök to a natural disaster can only denature it and evoke well-known phenomena in the present world.

Stanza 42

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

42. Sat þar á haugi Sat there on a burial mound oc sló hörpo and stroked the harp Eggþér is not sitting on a simple mound but on gýgiar hirðir, of the witches/ogresses shepherd, burial one (haugr). He is no ordinary guard but a glaðr Eggþér; the merry Eggþér, Servant of Sword-Edge; shepherd (hirðir). gól um hánom cawed (shouted/-sung) above him í gálgviði in gallows-wood egg-þér possibly comes from an Anglo-Saxon fagrrauðr hani, beautiful-red rooster influence. ON Egg is the edge of a sword but þér sá er Fialarr heitir. who Fjalarr (Of the Cliff) is named. is a personal pronoun meaning ‘them’. English The name of Beowulf’s father, Ecg-þeow, means Merry Eggþér, Servant of Sword- in Old English: ‘edge-sword–servant’. Note : in the sixth line, Edge Dronke explains the shepherd of the witches, version gáLGviði . Fjalarr = ‘him from the cliff’ or ‘him pelt- The more classical reading sat there on a burial mound wrapped’. is ‘gaGLviði’ =goose- and stroke the harp; wood. a beautiful-red rooster who is named Fjalarr loudly sung above him in gallows-wood

On the first three lines of stanza 42

Stanza 41 takes place in the world of the gods and mankind. Stanza 42 carries us to Giant world. The last happens as well in the poem “Skírnis för” (Skírnir’s travel) since Skírnir is used as intercessor between Freyr and his beloved, Giantess Gerðr. The prose comment, inserted between s. 10 and s. 11, explains that he at first observes that “fehirðir sat á haugi” (a shepherd was sitting on a burial mound). In stanza 42, we see that, in the same way, “sat þar á haugi … hirðir.” Besides as well as being encircled by a fire, Giant world seems characterized by an entrance kept by a shepherd sitting on a burial hillock.

Stanza 43

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

43. Gól um ásom Cawed (shouted-sung) around Æsir Armies should wake up at rooster crowing. Gullinkambi, Gold-comb, sá vecr hölða such that wakens chiefs at Herjaföðrs; at Armies-father’s (Herjaföðr) place; enn annarr gelr but another caws (shouts-sings) Two different roosters wake up the two fyr iörð neðan, before earth below, opposed armies. sótrauðr hani, soot-red rooster at sölom Heliar. in the halls of Hel. English

Gold-comb loudly sung over the Æsir so as it awakes the chiefs at Armies-father’s place;

but another loudly sings below under the earth, Hel is the residence of those who did not die a soot-red rooster in combat. Hel is also the name of the goddess in the halls of Hel. who reigns in Hel.

Stanza 44

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

44. Geyr Garmr Barks Garmr much Garmr = Dog, the name of a huge dog, guardian of miöc in front of Gnipahellir, Hel. fyr Gnipahelli, links become slit/broken festr mun slitna, and freki (the wolf) (will) run; Gnipahellir = Open Rock, the opening leading to enn freki renna; Hel. much knows she knowledge, fiölð veit hon in front see I far The bonds that are breaking are the magic chains frœða, ‘around’ of the gods fate, binding Fenrir wolf. Ragna röc begins when Fenrir fram sé ec lengra robust, winning powers. is released from its chains. um ragna röc, römm, sigtýva. ************************** ‘Ragna’ is the plural genitive of regin: divine English powers, Heathen gods.

Loudly barks Garmr Völuspá way of speech: ‘ragna rök’, became the in front of Gnipahellir, modern academic way of pointing at the doom of the gods. The word ‘rök’ means ‘cause, marvelous sign, the links begin to break life, destiny’. The currently accepted translation of and Fenrir wolf will soon ragnarök is something like ‘divine powers’ destiny. run; Snorri had adopted a different spelling, found in his she knows much of Edda: rökr where the final R is not a mark of nominative as it often is, it belongs to the radical everything, part of this word. For once, it has one meaning only, I see far what is in stock that of ‘twilight’. Hence Snorri speaks of a the of the gods fate, ‘twilight of the divine powers’ and Wagner followed robust, winning powers. this trend when speaking of the ‘Twilight of the gods’.

Stanza 45

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

45. Brœðr muno Brothers will strike beriaz and both dead become, Law did not accept weddings between oc at bönum verðaz, will cousins parents to less the 5th degree. The poem muno systrungar family relations spoil; states that marriages will happen between sifiom spilla; less distant cousins, and that is called here hard and sad is on earth ‘adultery '. In this Heathen world, ‘adultery’ hart er í heimi, adultery much, does not mean a doctrinal prohibition but a hórdómr mikill, times of beard/halberd, times of sword, taboo intended to maintain family coherence sceggöld, scálmöld, shields are cleaved (spoiled by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th degree scildir ro klofnir, windy times, monstrous times ‘cousins’ who married). vindöld, vargöld, until the world crashes down; áðr verold steypiz; will no human being mun engi maðr other ones respect. öðrom þyrma. No one will respect anyone.

English The word dómr has three possible meanings: the one of Brothers will strike each other ‘(justice) court’, the one of and both will die, ‘judgment’ and the one of cousins will ‘condition, state (of someone)’. spoil family relations; The word hór points at adulterous person. In the compound hard and sad is life on earth word ‘hór-dómr’, it is natural to large amount of adultery, choose for dómr the meaning: halberd times, sword times, ‘state’, and to create a word for ‘an shields are cleaved adulterous state’, which is the windy times, monstrous times meaning of this word in s. 45. Stanza until the world crashes down; 60 uses the word megindómr to speak of an ‘immense judgment’ that no human being fits well with s. 60 context. will respect another one. S. 65 uses the word regindómr to qualify Ragnarök and therefore it uses the ‘judgment’ meaning of dómr to speak of regin’s (powers) ‘judgment’.

Christian resonances can obviously be found in this stanza describing the disaster of the destruction of traditional family ties. Besides, when Ólason (GL p.33) states that: « It is overwhelmingly likely that the elements in Völuspá that offer the clearest parallels to Christian learning are later additions to the poem. The strongest evidence for this is the vocabulary found in some strophes which offer affinities with the vocabulary of Christian homiletic literature, obvious examples being words ending in – dómr… ». A serious argumentation against this claim would require a thorough study of these ‘homiletic texts’, a large amount of work that Ólason should have done himself instead of alluding to it. On the other hand, we have just met two of the three possible meanings of dómr in Old Norse. Their use is quite canonical and does not evoke anything especially homiletic. In fact, Ólason merely notes that the grammar of the Norse language has not been profoundly modified by Christianization, which is indeed obvious and does not ‘overwhelmingly’ prove anything about possible Christian additions.

Stanza 46

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

46. Leica Míms synir, Play/Move about Mímir’s sons, Mímir = a wise Giant, guardian of enn miötuðr kyndiz and measure ruler burns knowledge. His sons: perhaps the Giants at ino gamla at him (= when resounds) old who start moving to join the battle. Giallarhorni; Gjallahorn ; Miötuðr can take, as in s. 2, a meaning of hátt blæss Heimdallr, the beat blows Heimdallr, Anglo-Saxon origin (see s. 2) ‘ruler of the horn er á lopti, the horn is aloft, measure’ or the one the ‘destiny measure’ mælir Óðinn speaks Óðinn (if we read uðr = Urðr). In s. 2 it cannot be við Míms höfuð; with Mímir’s head ; something else than a heiti for Yggdrasill.

Gjalla-horn = shout/song- horn. Old or ancient qualifies Gjallarhorn and its sound indicates that destiny will start blazing up, physically and metaphorically wise.

Heimdall blows the ‘time’ = the tune, the beat of Ragnarök. English Dronke translates miötuðr by “fate’s measure . ” C-V. suggests that the variation Mímir’s sons move about, of s. 2, miötviðr, to s. 46 miötuðr, is a and the measure ruler burns simple copyist mistake. Since C V ‘forgets’ the precise meaning of while old Gjallahorn ; miötviðr: “tree of measure,” he tries to allot loudly resounds. this name to Heimdallr. It is true that speaking of Gjallahorn looks like alluding the beat blows Heimdallr, to Heimdallr, and the next line cites him. the horn is aloft, Dronke’s translation shows however that modern interpretations dropped this Óðinn speaks assumption due to Bergmann, the first with Mímir’s head ; translator in French of the Eddas, in the years 1850.

A follow up to this discussion appears in s 57.

Stanza 47

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

47. Scelfr Yggdrasils Shakes Yggdrasill ascr standandi, ash standing, ymr iþ aldna tré, moans him old tree, enn iötunn losnar; the Giant gets loose ; This Giant is the wolf Fenrir. hræðaz allir fear all Surtr is fire. It swallows (burns) as long as á helvegom, on hel-ways, ‘all that’ (Yggdrasill and/or the way of Hel) áðr Surtar þann until Surtr that will not have fulfilled his hunger (by sefi of gleypir. soothes ‘of’ swallows. burning everything).

English

Yggdrasill ash shakes, (still) standing, the old tree moans, the Giant gets loose;

all are scared on the ways to Hel, until Surtr soothes while swallowing all that.

Yggdrasill is entirely on fire. It is no longer a sacred tree nor a measure-master but a dying old tree.

Stanza 48 Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

48. Hvat er með ásom, 48. What is with Æsir hvat er með álfom? what is with elves ? gnýr allr iötunheimr, resounds all giant-home, A Thing (þing) is a meeting where the æsir ro á þingi; Æsir are on a Thing; powerful ones decide of political or judicial matters. stynia dvergar groan Dwarves fyr steindurom, before their stone-doors, Dwarves are visibly afraid and they hide veggbergs vísir – at wall-rock they point. behind their walls.

Vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? You know still, and what?

English

What about the Æsir what about the elves ? all giant-home rings, Æsir are holding a Thing;

Dwarves groan in front of their doors of stone, they point at their rocky walls.

You want to know more, and what? 49 = 44.

Stanza 50 Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

50. Hrymr ecr 50. Hrym arrives from the East, Hrym = old weakened Giant. austan, he has of shield of lime before, hefiz lind fyrir, Jörmungandr twists Jörmungandr is the serpent-dragon that circles snýz iörmungandr in the fury of giants; Miðgarðr. í iötunmóði; A “Giant fury” points at a behaviour typical of them, that is a blind and erratic anger. ormr knýr unnir, the worm (dragon) strikes waves , enn ari hlaccar, the eagle screems, read: “the eagle… beak-pale…” as “the eagle with a slítr nái neffölr, tears corpses, beak-pale, pale beak. ” Naglfar losnar. Naglfar is loose. Naglfar = Nail-ship is a gigantic ship made of the dead ones’ nails. English

Hrym arrives from the East, before him he carries a shield of lime, Jörmungandr twists in the fury of giants;

the worm (dragon) strikes waves, pale beak eagle screems, he tears corpses, (and) Naglfar is loose.

Stanza 51 Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

51. Kjóll ferr austan, A ship fares from East, Mus-spell may mean: “earth-destruction” koma muno Muspellz come would they Muspell’s We read here : “Muspell’s … people » um lög lýðir, by the sea people enn Loki stýrir; and Loki steers; fara fífls megir fare the madman’s large ones Býleistr is known as Loki’s brother. Here, með freca allir, with greedy one all, he seems to be Loki himself. þeim er bróðir they are brothers Býleiptz í for. of Býleistr in the travel. English Freki is the name of the one of Óðinn’s dogs but the word ‘freki’ especially means A ship fares from East, ‘greedy, gluttonous’ and can point at various Muspell’s people characters according to the context.

would come by sea, We meet here a ‘fool, a madman’ and a and Loki steers; ‘greedy one’ who may point at the same character, Loki. My feeling is that the the madman’s giants all fare ‘greedy one’ could well be Loki, greedy to with the greedy one, revenge from what he suffered from the Æsir. Surtr would then rather be the they are Býleistr’s brothers ‘madman’ here since he is the fire that will in this travel. eat up everything the Æsir’s world was standing for. The ‘fífls megir’ are then Fire-Giants who travel with Loki.

Kees Samplonius (GL 129-131) succeeds in the tour de force of seeing Loki as an incarnation of Lucifer. A popular etymological link, ‘luc (ifer) -loc (i)’', is not impossible to imagine but the blood brotherhood between Loki and Óðinn, for example, turns to ridicule if applied to the links between Lucifer and either God or Christ. And remember that Loki, in Lokasenna, boasts sexual exploits with the Ásynjur: what are Lucifer's feats in this area?

Stanza 52 Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

52. Surtr ferr sunnan Surtr fares from the South Surtr is the name of the main Giant of fire. með sviga lævi, with of sticks the bane, scínn af sverði the shine of a sword bane of sticks = fire sól valtíva; sun of Valtýr ; the shine Valtýr’s sword (is) the sun. griótbjörg gnata, rocks hit enn gífr rata, and monsters travel Valtýr = Týr of death = Surtr (plausibly). troða halir helveg, walk human ones hel-way enn himinn klofnar. and the sky cleaves.

English

Surtr fares from the South with the bane of sticks (fire),

the shine of a sword (becomes) Valtýr’s sun;

rocks hit one another and monsters travel,

mankind walks on the way to « mankind walks on the way to Hel » = Hel people die by the score. and the sky cleaves.

Some commentators rely on the etymology of the word surtr (svart, black) which allows them to evoke the ‘classic’ Christian image of an infernal ‘black fire’ (Kees Samplonius, GL 2013, pp. 122- 126). The first objection to this hypothesis is that it prevents understanding that the “brilliant Valtýr’s sword” belongs to Surtr. Samplonius then explains this by other endless Christian hints! Yet, LexPoet. does not report a compound word on ‘surtr’ where the meaning of black is associated with surtr. In fact, his argument is based on the name Surtalogi, twice used in Vafþrúðnismál s. 50 and 51: Óðinn asks Vafþrúðnir what will happen when, the Ragnarök completed, the fire of Surtr will be extinguished: Hverir ráða æsir Which Æsir reign eignum goða, on the gods possessions

þá er sloknar Surtalogi? while Surtalogi is quenched?

Word surtr is here in the genitive singular (i. e. a complement of logi), and that it can take two forms, either surts, or surtar, but not ‘surta’. On the other hand, the adjective svartr, black, does svarta in the genitive singular masculine (logi is a masculine word). Thus, by replacing the ‘u’ in surtr with ‘va’ in svartr, Vafþrúðnismál Surtalogi becomes Svartalogi. The main advantage of this modification is that it makes the word Svartalogi appears in Vafþrúðnismál and thus introduces the notion of ‘black fire’, a Christian image sometimes used in the Middle Ages to designate the fires of hell. This argument, even if we agree with its grammatical validity, makes it possible to discover a Christian influence on Vafþrúðnismál though not on Völuspá that speaks distinctly of Surtr and not of Svartr, also in Hauksbók s. 44. At any rate, the two genitive forms surts and surtar are accepted as surtr genitive singular, and this suggests that the genitive of surtr might have been somewhat variable and that ‘surta’ has only been preserved in Völuspá.

Stanza 53

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

53. Þá kømr Hlínar Then comes (towards) Hlín “then another tragedy comes in front of harmr annarr fram, harm other before, Hlín. ” Hlín is another name of Frigg. Her er Óðinn ferr he Óðinn fares first misfortune is her son’s, Balder, death. við úlf vega, with the wolf fight, The second one is her husband’s, Óðinn, enn bani Belia and the killer of Beli (Freyr) death. biartr, at Surti; shiny, at Surtr ; Freyr is the shiny killer of Beli. It is possible þá mun Friggiar then the love of Frigg that Beli is the brother of Gerðr of whom falla angan. falls, soft (of a sugary smell). Skírnis för says that he had been killed by Freyr. ‘angan’ is a noun meaning “sweet smell”: Óðinn is Frigg’s sweetheart. English One of the keys to understanding the poem Skírnir’s Journey is that Freyr’s sweetheart, Giantess Gerðr, had her brother killed by Then comes facing Hlín Freyr. This key role is explained at another harm, http://www. nordic-life. org/nmh/SkirnisforTale. htm . Óðinn fares to fight the wolf, Snorri tells us that Beli has been killed with and shiny Beli’s killer an antler because Freyr had to give his fares to fight Surtr; sword to Skírnir. All this interestingly hints at the existence of a lost myth of “Beli’s Death,” though it his hopeless to attempt then falls the nice smelling recreating it and its heroes. love of Frigg.

s. 54 = s. 44

Stanza 55 Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

55. Þá kømr inn micli Then comes him great Sigfaðir = Óðinn. His son is here Víðarr. mögr Sigföður, son of Sigfaðir, Víðarr, vega Víðarr, to fight The vulture = the wolf = Fenrir who killed at valdýri; against the vulture. Óðinn as said in s. 53. Now, s. 55 says that Vidarr kills Fenrir. Lætr hann megi Hveðrungs He lets him (to the) son of mund um standa Hveðrung We read: “He lets … standa” = he sets. hiör til hiarta, with (his) hand to stand Hveðrungr is a Giant name, here Loki, and þá er hefnt föður. a sword until heart, Fenrir is his son. thus he avenges (his) father. English

Then arrives the great son of Sigfaðir, Ragnarök obviously is a cosmic event. Fenrir’s death is nevertheless described by Víðarr, to fight a classical image, the one of sword driven against the vulture. until heart in Fenrir’s chest.

He sets in Hveðrung’s son, with his hand a sword until the heart, thus he avenges his father.

Stanza 55’

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

55’. Gínn lopt yfir Huge mouth up in the air 55' : This stanza has been newly lindi iarðar, buckle of earth, discovered , this is why I call it 55'. gapa ýgs kiaptar gapes (of) dreadlful jaws Dronke did not consider it. orms í hæðom; of the worm in the heights. mun Óðins sonr he will Óðinn’s son (Þórr) It tells the same story as s. 56: Þórr eitri mœta with poison meet meets again the serpent that rings the vargs at dauða of monster to die earth, also called Miðgarðr serpent Víðars niðja. Víðarr’s family (the Æsir). and Jörmungandr. Their first fight is famous and told in details in Snorra Edda with no obvious conclusion. English Here is their second fight where Þórr will kill Jörmungandr and will die ‘Buckle of earth’ gapes, poisened by the serpent, after its mouth up in the air walking back nine steps as s. 56 will the worm’s dreadlful jaws tell us. are high up.

He will Óðinn’s son (Þórr) meet the poison of the monster when Víðarr’s family (the Æsir) will die.

Stanza 56 Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanations

56. Þá kømr inn mœri Then comes him famous mögr Hlöðyniar, son of Hlódyn (Þórr) Hlóðyn = Stormy = Earth, Þórr’s gengr Óðins sonr he goes Óðinn’s son við orm úlf vega, against worm-wolf to fight. mother. drepr hann af móði strikes him in rage worm = dragon, wolf = monster. Miðgarðz véor, Miðgarðr’s defender (Þórr) It certainly points at Jörmungandr.

Muno halir allir - Must mankind all heimstöð ryðia, (their) dwelling empty, - Véorr = Þórr (Lex. Poet. ). Véor = defender. gengr fet nío he (Þórr) goes of feet nine Fiörgyniar burr Fjörgyn’s descendant neppr frá naðri weakened from the serpent níðs óqvíðnom. of shame non-fearing. Fjörgyn = Earth.

English Þórr dies, poisoned by the dragon Then comes famous venom. Hlódyn’s son, Þórr, who, being Óðinn’s son, Þórr backs up nine feet away from will fight the monstrous the serpent. He is weakened by its dragon. poison – which starts to kill him. He his not afraid of any kind of Þórr, Miðgarðr’s defender, shame since he has been killing his strikes in a fit of anger foe.

- the whole mankind must empty their dwelling, -

he (Þórr) goes nine feet off Fjörgyn’s descendant, weakened by the serpent he has no reason for shame.

Stanza 57

Old Norse Literal translation Comments and explanation

57. Sól tér sortna, Sun shows to blacken “Earth sinks in the sea” is obviously a sígr fold í mar, sinks earth in the sea sailor’s metaphor, “the ship is sinking. ” hverfa af himni swirl (or disappear) in the sky Dronke very aptly reminds that this image is heiðar stjörnor; shiny stars. very seldom used in mythology documents. You need a sailor people to look at the earth geisar eimi rage the fumes as being a kind of ship sailing through the við aldrnara, along ancient-fosterer (or ‘feeder’) universe. leicr hár hiti plays high the heat við himin siálfan. until sky itself. aldr = ancient, nári = fosterer, though we could also suppose a link with nara = “going on living while being near death. ”

English We do not really know who this “ancient fosterer” though all dictionaries understand Sun shows blackening it as ‘fire, flames’, which is possible in a earth sinks in the sea context different from Völuspá’s (see comment below). This why I will have to swirl in the sky explain below why I translate it as the shiny stars. “Yggdrasill burning. ”

rage the fumes That is why we will have to explain our along Ancient-fosterer translation aqs it as “Yggdrasill in flames” (Yggdrasill burning) rather than bringing back this “old feeder” to a being already known as Orchard the heat plays high (Yggdrasill), or as dictionaries do by “fire.” up to the sky itself. Using this meaning leads Dronke to implicitly explain to the reader the classical meaning of dictionaries, a unique case in skaldic poetry or, as Boyer does, to invent a verb (flames ‘snore’) so that these flames are not isolated in the sentence, as they are - if only there are flames - in the Old Norse text. See also the comment below.

Yggdrasill is now nothing more than a gigantic torch and the flames running along its trunk rise to the sky. Again to eliminate this ‘cumbersome’ Yggdrasill, the community of translators found nothing better than to see “fire” in this ‘former feeder’ under the pretext that fire is used to cook the food ... which is true but totally out of Ragnarök context. The example of Dronke’s translation (her s. 54) is typical: “Fumes rage against fire, / fosterer of life, ...” which does of ‘fire’ a ‘fosterer of life’, that is an angelic and ridiculous vision that sees the immense fire that is destroying our universe as a comfy home fire.

“The sun shows to blacken” recalls the discussion in s. 52 about ‘black light’. There, however, sun merely disappears which does not seem to evoke classical medieval images.

Comments on s. 57 Here are translations of the last 4 lines of this stanzas as suggested by the three academic translators.

Dronke s. 54 Orchard s. 57 Boyer s. 57 (who changed stanza ordering) Flame flickers up Rage the fires, Fume rages against fire, against the world- Roar the flames. fosterer of life, tree; (‘Ronflent les flammes’) the heat soars high fire flies high An intense heat against heaven itself. against heaven Plays until the sky. itself.

You see that Dronke and Orchard translate við in “við aldrnara” as ‘against’, its usual meaning. Dronke provides the other name of ‘fire’, i. e. “fosterer of life” as a qualifier for ‘fire’. In many contexts this would be quite possible (as told in Hávamál s. 68 “fire is the best for men”, upon which her argument stands). Nevertheless, in a context where the god of fire, Surtr, swoops down on our universe in order to burn it, this understanding is at least hazardous and would describe a situation illustrating more the Cathar beliefs than the ones of ancient Scandinavia. Boyer entirely forgets við and invents a “roar (the flames)” so as avoiding this embarrassing “against” and nevertheless preserving the four lines structure of the last half-stanza.

Of course, the nature of this “ancient fosterer” (or, possibly ‘ancient hard-to-die one’ since stanza 47 says that it is still upright) that is aflame carries a deep meaning. As Orchard, I think that it points at an Yggdrasill’s tree completely disappearing during Ragnarök. The völva obviously is focused on the gods’ fate and she sends humankind to a mass extinction towards Helheim, as stated by s. 52: “mankind walks on the way to Hel,” with no other detail given. There fortunately exists another source, one as reliable as Völuspá: Vafþrúðnismál. In its stanza 44, Óðinn asks Vafþrúðnir who of humankind will survive to Ragnarök and he calls them fírar (humankind) et maðr (a human person, here given under the form manna, its plural genitive). It is therefore clear that Óðinn points at humankind and not at any god. Vafþrúðnir answers that two of them will survive, namely Líf (Life) and Lífþrasir (‘Life- greedy’) [note 1] since adjective þrási means ‘greedy’. They will hide among the bushes (or wood) of Hoddmímir (hodd = treasure, here Mímir’s wisdom). Their food will “morning dew” and they will there produce the (next) generations. Using both Vafþrúðnismál and Völuspá we understand that the Æsir will be broken by Nature’s strength but also that the human race will not disappear. At Yggdrasill’s base exists a zone for rescue and wisdom (Mímir’s spring) where life and wisdom (hence, in an ancient Norse context, magic as well) will be preserved after Ragnarök occurred.

[note 1] Readers can be curious to know who is wife an who is husband in this regenerative couple. I cannot say more that an ‘ir’ ending usually denotes a masculine word. As for Lif, it can be linked to the word líf (life – a neuter) or with word lifr (liver, a feminine word, also directly linked with ‘life’ in the Norse language). Life would then be the name of the female and Life-greedy the one of the male.

Moreover, Dronke does not accept that Yggdrasill is the aldrnari because s. 46 and 47 tell us that Yggdrasill is aflame and groans and, according to her, that would imply that 46 and 47 already described its destruction. We can reply that, due to Yggdrasill’s high mythical value, it is not surprising that its destruction is three times hinted at.

Humankind is nevertheless preserved http://www. nordic-life. org/nmh/LifeandLifegreedy. htm

58 = 44.

After Ragnarök, Gimlé The last eight stanzas (59-66)

These last eight stanzas raised many problems because many state that a large Christian influence is obvious within them. I give you below initially two recent translations, followed by a literal translation with added notes.

1. Two recent translations by American academics

Authors. Ursula Dronke, a relentless promoter of Christianity in her comments though impeccably academic in her translations (Poetic Edda vol. II, Clarendon Press, 1997). Andy Orchard, the most recent translation of poetic Edda, not expensive and very precise. (The Elder Edda, Penguin Classic, 2011)

In the translations, notation X/Y means: “The Norse word is translated either by X or by Y”

Dronke Orchard

56. 59. She sees come up She sees rising a second time a second time earth out of the ocean the earth from the ocean, once again green. ever-green; The waterfalls flow, the cataracts tumble, an eagle flies over, an eagle flies above, in the hills hunting fish hunting fish. along the fell.

57. 60. Æsir meet The Æsir come together on Eddying plains, on Action-field, and discourse on the mighty and pass judgement on the enmesher of earth, powerful earth-coil, and call to mind there, and commemorate there the momentous judgements the mighty events, and the Gigantine god’s and the ancient runes ancient runes. of Potent-god.

Comments

Dronke sees a nominative iða = swirl; Orchard sees a genitive of ið, iða. The difference between the two are explained in the comentary to s. 7. Iðavöllr is a traditional place of gathering of Æsir, a plain placed at the center of their fortress in Ásgarðr.

58. 61. There will be once more Afterwards there will be the miraculous found, wondrous, golden checkers golden gaming-pieces be found, in the grass in the grass, those that in the old days those which in ancient days they had owned. they had owned.

Comments

Höðr killed Baldr under Loki’s influence. Hroptr, can be “the Crier", always names Óðinn.

[Note that the völva obviously begins to get tired with Óðinn’s questions. ]

59. 62. Without sowing All unsown cornfields will grow- the fields will grow, all harm will be healed, all harm will be healed, Baldr will come. Baldr will come; They inhabit, Höðr and Baldr, Höðr and Baldr will inhabit Hroptr’s walls of triumph, Hropt's victory-halls, gods of the sanctuary. sanctuaries of the slain-gods:

Do you still seek to know? And do you know yet, or what? what?

60. 63. Then Hœnir picks out Then Hœnir shall choose the twig of augury, the wooden lots, and sons of the two brothers and the sons of two brothers set up their home build dwellings in the wide wind realm. in the wide wind-home:

Do you still seek to know? And what? do you know yet, or what?

Comments

Hœnir is a name of dubious etymology. In stanza 18, “óð gaf Hœnir” (Hœnir gave intelligence) to the first human beings, Ask and Embla. The substantive óðr, here in the accusative, means ‘intelligence’. Independently, the adjective óðr means furious and is the base of Óðinn’s name, ‘The Furious One’.

61. 64. A hall she sees standing, She sees a hall standing, brighter than the sun, more beautiful than the sun, roofed with gold, better than gold, on Refuge from the Flames. at Gimlé. There shall the worthy Virtuous folk warrior bands dwell shall live there, and all their days of life and enjoy pleasure enjoy delight. the live-long day.

Comments

A tentative etymology for Gimlé is gim-hlé, where gim = jewel/fire; hlé = shelter. Dronke comments on Gimlé possibly being a shelter against the flames of the Christian hell.

Opposite to this interpretation, it is more probable to see here a typical Scandinavian attitude relative to the halls, as we will now explain. In her contribution to “Viking Worlds, Things, Spaces and Movement”, pp. 12-27, Lydia Carstens mentions that her ‘definition’ of a hall is based “on the study of 75 halls from all over Scandinavia and from the whole Scandinavian Iron Age.” As Dronke, she interprets the name of the new world after Ragnarök as ‘fire-shelter’, suggested by the etymology just above. However, instead of fantasying on Christian Hell, she notes that the long sequence of burned halls from Iron-Age until the end of the Viking period may suggest a Scandinavian deep need for ‘non burning’ halls. Gimlé would then have been suggested by the history of Scandinavians halls as a and ideal hall, one that cannot be burned. As an arguments born from architecture in favor of her hypothesis, Carstens notes that around one half of the halls predating the Viking period have been burned down, while this happened to only one fourth of them during this period.

[65. Then there comes the mighty Not translated by Dronke one down from above, the strong one, who governs everything, to powerfulness. ]

Comments

Dronke leaves out the stanza known as 65th because she believes it to be a late Christian addition. Orchard puts it in between square brackets to indicate that this stanza is of disputable authenticity.

62. 66. There comes the shadowy Then there comes there the dark dragon flying, dragon flying, glittering serpent, up the glittering snake up from Dark of the Moon Hills. from Moon-wane-hills, He carries in his pinions it bears in its wings -he flies over the field- - and flies over the plain; Malice Striker, corpses. Dead bodies : Spite-striker.

Now will she sink. Now she must sink.

Comments

Niðafiöllom: nið = the waning moon, fjall = cliff, mountain. Can thus mean: “the falls or mountain of the waning moon. ” níð-högg = insult-stroke/slaughter. Can thus mean: “insult that strikes/slaughters. ”

2. (almost) Literal translation

Old Norse Literal pseudo English 59. Sér hon upp koma She goes up öðro sinni other oneself iörð ór ægi earth out of the ocean iðiagrœna; very green; falla fossar, fall waterfalls flýgr örn yfir, flies the eagle above sá er á fialli on/near the cliff fisca veiðir. the fish it hunts.

Comments

öðro sinni: “another oneself,” we could say ‘regenerated’. In the above translations it is rendered by “a second time. ” iðja - intensive prefix, ‘very’. foss = modal of fors = waterfall.

60. Finnaz æsir Have just met the æsir á Iðavöllr on Iðavöllr [Dronke: Swirl-Meadow ] [Orchard: Action-field] [here, s 7: Fulfillments Plain] og um moldþinur and about ground-pine_tree OR ground-rope [Yggdrasill OR Jörmungandr ] mátcan, dœma powerful, judge/chat oc minnaz þar and recall á megindóma of the great judgments oc á Fimbultýs and on Fimbultýr’s fornar rúnar. ancient runes.

Commentaries

Iða = swirl, völlr = field/meadow, dat. sing. and accusative plur: velli. The accusative implies a movement. mold = earth/soil. About þinurr: in the traditional translations (as Dronke’s, Larrington’s and Orchard’s), the translators read ‘þinull” = a rope bordering a net and this leads to Jörmungandr. The word þinurr normaly means a pine-tree, and this would lead to Yggdrasill. The word þinurr is here in the accusative (þinur), this is why one must allot to it the nominative þinurr. I tend to believe that the Heathen times readers were perfectly able to catch the pun implied by the confusion of these two characters of their mythology. This is why I preserve the two meanings in the literal translation. Fimbul-Týr=Powerful-Týr (here: Týr = a god, in other contexts it can indicate a hero or human or, obviously, the god Týr himself). rúnar = accusative plural of rún, rune.

Why þinurr has been replaced by þinull?

We may suppose that, Yggdrasill being burned off, the commentators believed that it ‘should’ no longer exist in Gimlé. It hence was much more ‘logical’ to see here a kenning for Jörmungandr than one for Yggdrasill. Now, If we however recall that at the beginning of times, in s. 2, the “famous measure-tree” is still mold neðan (under the earth) we are untitled to read here that at the beginning of the new world, the existence of a moldþinurr (instead of the moldþinull introduced by the commentators) is mostly expected. The word used in the manuscripts, þinurr, should then have been be carefully kept as such since it announces the presence of a growing ‘baby Yggdrasill’ intended to allot the measure in Gimlé. This interpretation strongly suggests that the new world was ‘behaving’ in a way similar to the one of the old world. It follows that, instead being similar to an apocalypse to be compared to the Christian one, Völuspá could also rather describe a kind of reincarnation of the old Earth into a new one, Gimlé. This does not exclude the possibility of some (expected) Indo-European influences on the Norse worldview though it excludes a Christian one.

61. Þar muno eptir There will become later undrsamligar marvelous gullnar töflor the golden figures of tafl í grasi finnaz, in the grass they find, þærs í árdaga those which in the old days áttar höfðo. of the family they used

Commentaries

For this stanza, the word order is very different from ours. Read: “They find in the grass the marvelous golden figures of the game tafl, the family ones, which they used during ancient times. ” Töfl are the figures of a game called Tafl often translated by ‘chess’. It has been reconstituted in a tactical play of encirclement which looks more as Go game than chess. hafa = to have/to use/(etc. ), here in the plural preterit höfðu.

Adjective undrsamligr has been (as dómr, see s. 45 comment) considered as derived from Christian homilies. C.-V. dictionary provides seven words composed on form ‘undr-’, all more or less related to the notion of ‘wonder’ and the word undr seems to be of a perfectly pagan nature. However, ironically for who see a Christian influence in the use of the word undrsamligr as being found in homiletic literature, CV dictionary also specifies a second meaning to undr, that of ‘scandal, shame’ which is certainly not applied, at least to the “marvelous pieces of tafl” of s. 61. Pétur Pétersson (GL 2013, pp.185-201) proposes a translation of this stanza (including a commentary in between [ ] and added by himself) that illustrates his way of understanding the poem. Remember also the two translations of the last stanza Völuspá already given above by Dronke (s.60) and Orchard (s.63)

s. 60 Dronke s. 63 Orchard s. 61 Pétersson So Hœnir picks up Then Hœnir will choose Then Hænir [god of Heaven] was the twigs of the augur, wooden lots, able to choose and the sons of the two brothers and the sons of the two brothers to accept the bloody wood install their house build houses and could thus live together off the wind kingdom. in the broad kingdom of the wind. the sons of the two brothers.

Are you still looking for? And what ? What do you still know, or what?

Pétur Pétersson comments on his translation as follows: “Certainly, this stanza can not be explained by reference to pre-Christian skaldic language” and he sees a link with the second letter to the Corinthians. The first two lines of this stanza do not speak of “bloody wood” but of drawing lots (and not explicitly “drawing omens”) that the new leader, Hænir, will award the new owners of the place. The vocabulary used perhaps evokes the arrival of Norwegian settlers in Iceland, without needing refer to Christian attitudes. Moreover, the text of this second letter (19), available at: http://biblescripture.net/2Corinthians.html indeed states: “(19) … God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” Ironically, it can be said that calling Hænir a “god of heaven,” already is a major Christian influence, and the Christian notion of ‘reconciliation’ is slyly introduced. We must remember the evidence that the s. 63 is supposed to speak of a pagan god and not of a Christian god. Moreover, this stanza does not speak of reconciliation but of cohabitation, as could be achieved by using the typically pagan concept of weregild, that is to say a compensation discussed and approved by both parties. The weregild is not connected to a divine interaction but to the behavior of responsible humans who do not need to ‘forgive’ to live in peace.

62. Muno ósánir They must not-sown acrar vaxa, harvests to grow, böls mun allz batna, harm will all [all harm will] cure, Baldr mun koma; Baldr must come; búa þeir Höðr oc Baldr will live here Höðr and Baldr Hroptz sigtóptir, of Hroptr victory-walls/sites, vel valtívar – of the great dead heroes.

vitoð ér enn, eða hvat? Do you know more, or what?

Commentaries Batna = to cure or ‘they cure’, what undergoes the cure is with the genitive like “allz böls . ” Hropts sigtoptir indicates Valhöll. Valtívar = valley-tívar = death-gods = dead gods. Here, rather dead heroes. Understand: Höðr and Bald will join Valhöll. ér vituð = you know.

63. Þá kná Hœnir Then Hœnir knows

to draw hlautvið kiósa, sacrificial lots to choose ( ) oc byrir byggja and a favorable wind [ to settle, The genitive brœðra has no brœðra tveggja (those) of the brothers both ] explicit noun to modify. This is [ OR:… they settle ] why we have here a ‘those of’ to those of the two brothers… ] represent what is modified which implicitely is read as vindheim víðan. - (in) the house of the large wind. ‘children of’ or ‘family of’ or ‘allies of’ (the brothers). Vitoð ér enn, eða Do you (want to) know more, or hvat? what?

Commentaries

The stanza is ambiguous. We cannot decide if 1. Hœnir knows how to draw the sacrificial lots and how to settle (byggja) a favorable wind. The two brothers’ parents settle (tveggja) in the house of the large wind. 2. Hœnir knows how to draw the sacrificial lots. The two brothers’ parents settle a favorable wind and they inhabit the house of the large wind.

Hlaut-viðr = sacrificial-wood/tree. ‘To choose’ means here to draw lots. The sacrificial lots are carved on a small wooden plank or a rod. Bróðir (brother) does brœðra in the genitive plural case. It is not obvious to understand wherefrom Dronke and Orchard’s “sons of two brothers” comes, except as a rendering of brœðra genitive plural grammatical case. I translated in an ambiguous way: “Those of the two brothers,” without saying who they are. In this context, the two quoted brothers are certainly Höðr and Baldr appearing in stanza 62. The drama of the fratricide concocted by Loki and carried out by Höðr is obviously a capital element around which our mythology and the gods’ örlög are hinged. This is not obvious to us because of our different religious and moral values.

64. Sal sér hon standa, A hall sees she rising, sólo fegra, sun more shining (shinier than the sun) gulli þacþan with gold as a roof á Gimlé; on Gimlé (Protection from fire? ); To this þar scolo dyggvar place the faithful ones go dróttir byggja people to settle oc um aldrdaga and for always ynðis nióta. of delight to benefit.

Commentaries

Fegri = comparative of fagr, beautiful. Dyggvar = plural of dyygr meaning faithful/trusty. C. -V. who also specifies dyggvar dróttir = “worthy, good people”); (Lex. Poet. ): aldyygr = fidelissimus, dyggleikr = fidelitas, and nevertheless dyggr = utilis, bonus, probus, præstans; de Vries: dyggr = ‘zuverlässig, brav’ (trustworthy, good). As a summary, we can state that dyggr means either ‘faithful or trustworthy’ (first meaning) or ‘worthy’ (second meaning, chosen by Dronke). It does not mean ‘virtuous’ (as Orchard’s). In the discussion below, my argument will be based on the meaning ‘faithful/trustworthy’. The meaning ‘good’ could be used also but my point which is the Heathens could be faithful to their gods would not apply.

We can legitimately wonder whether this describes a Christian paradise where the faithful people are ‘obviously’ faithful Christians. We have added below excerpts from Gautrek's saga which illustrates very well the faith in Óðinn that some Norse could manifest to the point of the whole family going together near a sacred cliff where some of them ‘suicide’ (here we should say “travel to Valhöll.” Some translations try to suggest that the accompanying parents ‘help a little’ their parents to commit suicide. This insinuation is simply dishonest: you will see that the word used is ‘to escort’ and, above all, the main suiciding one is obviously a pigheaded character who does not let anyone advice him, we thus can wonder why he would need to be ‘helped’ for jumping from the top from the cliff.

Stanza 65

The stanza classed here as the 65th does not exist in the Codex Regius version and is Hauksbók s. 58

‘65’. Literal translation (reminder : Orchard’s translation) Þá kømr inn ríki Then arrives him powerful [Then there comes the mighty one at regindómi, at the gods’ judgment, down from above, öflugr, ofan, magnificent, coming down, the strong one, who governs sá er öllo ræðr. who on all advises. everything, to powerfulness. ] Commentaries

regindómr: We noticed that Dronke did not translate s. 65 and we now observe that Orchard provides an original translation to regindómr : ‘powerfulness’. The meaning ‘last judgment’ is suggested in Cleasby-Vigfusson’s dictionary at word regin. This illustrates the fact that the 19th century scholars used to include purely Christian concepts to render Heathen ones. Regin means ‘the gods, the powers’. Dómr is the judgment or the destruction. Thus, regindómr is not compatible with Christian “last judgment. ” Boyer follows the tradition and he translates by ‘last judgment’ though he adds a comment: “This is probably a late Christian addition. It may however be about Alfödr. ” Note that Alföðr (Óðinn) has just been killed thus it cannot be him.

All this can actually been understood as being purely Heathen. The Heathen oaths were uttered in front of Freyr, Njörðr and “inn almátki áss” (him, all-powerful of the Æsir) and this stanza could speak of his Heathen successor.

Verb ráða gives ræðr in the indicative present, 3rd person.

Sigurðsson (GL 2013, p.52) reports that “The ‘rich and mighty’ figure who appears here is often though of as being Christ, coming from above to pass the final Judgment.” This idea is contradicted with a lot of common sense by Ólason (GL 2013, p.36) who states that “It would be strange to introduce the Christian Last Judgment into a reborn world in which everything is fresh, a world to which some divine beings have just returned while others definitely perished with the old world.”

This stanza ‘65’ appears only in the version found in ‘Hauksbók’, a manuscript dated around 1300. Codex Regius that contains another version of Völuspá (essentially the one given here) is dated around 1270. These thirty years of difference are more significant than they seem. It happens that, in 1270, Iceland was still a free country, subject to the authority of the Þing while it became in 1282 a kind of colony of Norway, subject to the authority of the king of Norway and therefore to the direct authority of the Catholic Church of Norway. If one stanza has been influenced by Christianity, it can this stanza 65 (58 of Bugge's Hauksbók version) that we can best suspect.

66. Þar kømr inn dimmi Here comes the dim one dreki fliúgandi, dragon flying, naðr fránn, neðan snake glimmering, up from below frá Niðafiöllom; from Waning-Moon Cliff (Niðafjöll); it carries in berr sér í fiöðrom - its wings, - flýgr völl yfir - it flies the meadow above -, Niðhöggr, nái. Insult-Stroke (Níðhöggr), corpses.

Nú mun hon søcqvaz. Now must she sink.

Commentaries

- Níðhöggr or Niðhöggr? Putting or not emphasizing the giant dragon's 'i' that nibbles Yggdrasill's roots may seem like a detail. In fact, this snake is actually ‘down’ since it lives in Yggdrasill's roots. And verse 66, which states that it comes from below after Ragnarök, adds a mystical note to his change in position and best explains my choice to call, unlike the choice of experts, Níðhöggr, 'the serpent ‘below’. - Neðan or ofan? Neðan means ‘bottom up’. Ofan means the opposite ‘top down’. Thus, the powerful god of stanza 65 arrives ofan, from the bottom up, while the dragon of stanza 66 arrives neðan, from top to bottom. The first four lines are understood as follows: “The flying dragon arrives, the dark, glittering serpent, he climbs from The Cliff of the Waning Moon.” The last three lines read as follows: “Snake from below flies over the plain. It carries in its wings corpses.” See the explanation given in stanza 19 for these two translations. Note that in verse 65 the “powerful, which advises on all” comes down from heaven while in 66, Níðhöggr comes “up from the bottom”, i.e. it has the reverse movement back to the surface Earth. This is extremely striking when one remembers that the eagle perched on top of Yggdrasill, Hræsvelgr (Corpse-swallower) has become the new Hræsvelgr since he carries corpses. Finally, note that Niðhöggr, a pagan character if any, joins Gimlé but he is no longer a chtonian being, he has become a celestial being. One last time, the reference to Christian myths is possible, but not at all obligatory. This kind of reconciliation between the chtonian powers and the heavenly powers must represent a distant ideal for the pagan

Kure (GL 2013, pp. 79-80) claims that there is a close relationship between Revelation 12.9 and stanza 66 and “the resemblance may even seem striking when one takes into account the particular form of the devil ...” in Revelation 12.9 which reads:

“And he was cast out, the great dragon, the old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, who deceives all the earth; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Kure does not say to which stanza of Völuspá he is referring. A word that means ‘dragon’ appears in four stanzas of Völuspá. In stanza 39 as Níðhöggr (where he ‘sucks’ corpses), in s. 50 as ormr (‘snake or worm’, where it ‘hits the waves’), in s. 56 as naðr and ormr úlfr (‘viper and wolf snake’, where Þórr is killed), and in s. 66 as Níðhöggr and dreki (‘dragon’, where it rises from 'below). The first three occurrences (in 39, 50, 56) show no connection with the devil of Revelation 12.9 and the fourth in s. 66 - if we are willing to compare them - shows nothing but a complete negation of each other since the “devil” will disappear underground while the dragon of s. 66 appears as coming from below to the top. This nullifies the comparison of Kure between the Christian dragon and the one of Nordic Völuspá.

This kind of reconciliation between the celestial forces and the chthonian ones must represent a pagan ideal of which we are hardly any more aware.

How to understand the composition of these stanzas? The least we can say is that these stanzas appear disjointed, full of exaltation and sometimes hardly comprehensible. How to replace them in a Heathen context that provides some coherence, or at least explains the inconsistencies? Let us start with inconsistencies relative to the spatial arrangement. In stanza 60, the Æsir meet on Iðavöllr, i. e. in a valley at the center of the fortifications which enclose Miðgarð. As these stanzas describe a post-Ragnarök situation, only the still living Æsir are involved. They remember their past and find back a source of their power, the ancient runes. In stanza 61, they find back the tafl game, which implies a capacity at handling a warlike strategy. Stanzas 61 and 62 describe, apparently without change of place, several ‘miraculous’ innovations as Höðr and Baldr return. The second part of stanza 62 even specifies that they will live between walls that have belonged to Óðinn, undoubtedly Valhöll. We thus see in 62 an allusion to the fact that, eventually, everyone gathers in Valhöll, the dead warriors ‘pagan paradise’. In stanza 63, the divine family (or at least “these of two brothers”) is/are established in the “house of the high wind. ” We meet here a celestial allusion, which is obvious since Valhöll is always described as being a celestial residence. The kenning vindheim víðan of course may describe many celestial places but the context rather makes us think of Valhöll [and, as an aside, of Iceland one day of fairly strong wind, which is enough to make of it a genuine ‘kingdom of the winds’]. Not before stanza 64, we learn the name of this place, Gimlé, which thus appears to be a continuation or a new version of Valhöll. The condition to be admitted in Gimlé changed: warriors dead in combat are no longer welcome here and they are replaced by the “faithful people. ” Each religion has its faithful ones and, be them Christian or Moslem or other, they will all feel concerned by stanza 65. Here, the context is the one of Germanic Heathens’ faithful ones and, at this point, I’ll need to argue that such person indeed existed. I will thus provide two examples in the two additions below. The first is relative to facts (no theories) about Verden slaughter and second comes from Kormaks Saga.

On Verden slaughter (782)

The Carolingian Chronicles [ref. 1] begin in 741 and as of 744, state: “Again…Pepin invades Saxony… “, i. e. an almost ceaseless war opposed the Franks and the Saxons as of 741. Let us pass over the many horrors managed by the two parts during this war and come to the Charlemagne enacted laws called Capitulatio of partibus Saxoniae [ ref. . 2]. They have been proclaimed on an unspecified date between 775 and 790. These laws describe a state of religious war between the Franks and the Saxons. For example, refusal to accept baptism or going on with pagan practices are punished by death. In fact, during the Verden slaughter, Charlemagne does nothing but applying these laws. He applies them to 4500 prisoners of war known as the leaders of the revolt and of the return to paganism, which is spectacular, but perfectly in accordance with the law. These laws have indeed been promulgated by Charlemagne himself. He nevertheless needed an official backing to support his laws, in particular the one of the clergy, so that they could be accepted by the other Franks. The Carolingian Chronicles describe many Saxon revolts that disavow the Christian faith and, at the same time, declare their political independence and at once start warring against the Frankish domination. The war of religion thus doubles a territorial war, as we could expect. But all that could have remained a ‘simple’ territorial war. That it has been a religion war shows how much 8th century Germans still held to their gods.

[ ref. 1] Carolingian Chronicles, translation B W Scholz and B Rogers, Univ. Michigan Press, 1972. [ ref. 2] Capitulatio of partibus Saxoniae (775-790), ed. Alfred Boretius, MGH Capitularia regum Francorum1 (Hannover 1883), p. 68-69.

Gautreks Saga

This saga is apparently the only one to describe a place called ‘Ætternisstapi’ = Family High Rock. This is a cliff from the top of which commentators claim that useless mouths, in particular old persons, have been thrown down. Obviously, this legend cannot be corroborated by archaeological discoveries, it is then mistrusted. In fact, Gautreks Saga does not describe what experts claim: it shows several cases where members of a family commit suicide from the top of this family rock. The story is about a family the head of which is an old stubborn and full of pride character. In this story, people live afar in the middle of a forest, but do not know famine, each one seems to be in good health. Comes a king who lost his way and he frightens everyone by his warrior figure. This king humiliates several times the family head who, the following day when the king is gone away, decides to commit suicide. I suppose that he considered that he could not survive such a dishonor. He announces in this way his decision: en ek ætla mér ok konu minni ok þræli til Valhallar. Má ek eigi þrælnum will betra launa sinn trúleika in hann fari með mér. but I have the intention me and my wife and the þræll (of going) to Valhöll. I cannot better reward the þræll for his fidelity, than to have him traveling with me.

The word þræll indicates a ‘slave’ in the Scandinavian way, i. e. very integrated into the family life. To “take him along to Valhöll” it is not an ironic way to speak of a punishment: The head of the family wants to honor the þræll for his fidelity. The father divides his goods between his children and all the family goes to the Ætternisstapi. óru þau öll upp á Gillingshamar, ok leiddu börnin föður sinn ok móður ofan to fyrir Ætternisstapa, ok fóru þau glöð ok kát til Óðins. They went all in top to Gillinghammer, and the children led their father and their mother ‘down ahead’ the Family Rock, and they travelled happy and merry towards Óðinn.

The verb leiða regularly makes leiðu or leiddu in the preterit and means ‘to lead’ and not ‘to help’: the children lead their parents, they do not ‘help’ them, which could imply ‘to give a hand’ to commit suicide. The expression ofan fyrir expresses an action such as ‘swing over in order to fall’ but does not imply any ‘help’. By forcing the meaning of the words, we could nevertheless understand (just as many did) that the children pushed their parents from top of the rock in order to get rid of them. This contradicts the text stating that they left “happy and merry (glöð ok kát). ” It is more reasonable to think than the children accompanied their parents at the place where the latter were to ‘rock over’. There too, some are able to see a “Christian influence” as the martyrs merrily going ahead of their death. However, even if the author of the saga has been somewhat influenced, he describes a supremely un-Christian behavior: a suicide caused by an exacerbated pride. Here thus is a very clear example of a passionate faith in Óðinn.

References

Cleasby-Vifusson, « Icelandic-English dictionary », Clarendon 1874 – 2nd edition 1957 (reprint 1962). De Vries, « Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch » Leiden 1961 (in German). Svenbjörn Egilsson, « Lexicon Poëticum Antiquæ Linguæ Septentrionalis » (1860) (in Latin). Snorri Sturluson, « Edda », Translation, A. Faulkes, Everyman 1987 (reprint 1995). Contains Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skaldskaparmal, Hattatal. Snorri Sturluson, L'Edda, Translation F. X. Dillmann, Gallimard, 1991 Contains Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál Ch 1-7 Nordberg, Andreas,. ‘Continuity, Change and Regional Variation in OldNorse Religion. In eds C. Raudvere and J. P. Schjødt More than Mythology: Narratives, Nordberg, Andreas “Ritual Practices and Regional Distribution in Pre-Christian Scandinavian Religions” in “More than Mythology,” Nordic Academic Press, 2012. This paper presents the notion of “Christo-centricity. ” Stephen J. Shoemaker : https://www.academia.edu/24597775/The_Tiburtine_Sibyl_the_Last_Emperor_and_the_Early_Byzantine_Apocalyptic_Traditio n_uncorrected_proofs_ ).

Edda: The Poetic Edda, Carolyne Larrington Translation, 1996, Oxford University Press Norse Poems, W. H. Auden & P. B. Taylor, Faber and Faber, London 1986. Hans Kuhn, Edda, Codex Regius, Vol. I. Texts; Vol. II. Short dictionnairy, Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1962. L'Edda poétique, R. Boyer, Fayard, Paris 1992. Die Edda, F. Genzmer, Eugen Diederichs, München 1992. The Elder Edda, Andy Orchard, Penguin 2011. The Poetic Edda Vol. II, Ursula Dronke, Clarendon 1997.