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Heiðr (also rendered Heid, Hed, Heith, Hetha etc, from the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
adjective meaning "bright" or the noun meaning "honour") is a Norse female personal name. It may refer to the seeress and witch ('' völva'') mentioned in one stanza of '' Völuspá'', related to the story of the Æsir-Vanir war: :Heith they named her :who sought their home, :The wide-seeing witch, :in magic wise; :Minds she bewitched :that were moved by her magic, :To evil women :a joy she was. : ::—''Völuspá'' (22)
Bellows’ translation
ref>Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. ''The poetic Edda''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. The general assumption is that here, "Heiðr" is an alternate name for the witch Gullveig, mentioned in the previous stanza, who, in turn, is often thought to be a hypostasis of Freyja. But it is sometimes argued that the ''völva'' who recites the poem refers to herself. Heiðr is also a seeress in several works such as ''
Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ov ...
'' ( S 179 / H 45), '' Hrólfs saga kraka'' (3) and '' Örvar-Odds saga'' (2), where she predicts Örvar's death. Heiðr is also the name of a child of the giant
Hrímnir Hrímnir (Old Norse: ) is a jǫtunn in Norse mythology. He is the father of Hljód. Name The Old Norse name ''Hrímnir'' has been translated as 'frosty', 'the one covered with hoarfrost', or 'the sooty one.' It is not clear whether the name i ...
according to '' Völuspá hin skamma'' ('' Hyndluljóð'', 32). Saxo Grammaticus reported a shield-maiden bearing this name as captain of the contingent from Sle fighting for the Danes at the
Battle of Brávellir The Battle of Brávellir or the Battle of Bråvalla was a legendary battle, said to have taken place c.770, that is described in the sagas as taking place on the Brávellir between Sigurd Hring, king of Sweden and the Geats of Västergötland, an ...
in the year 750. She was said to be the daughter of King Harald Hildetand.


References

Legendary Norsemen Witchcraft in folklore and mythology Characters in Norse mythology Germanic seeresses {{norse-myth-stub