Ilmr (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

) is a figure in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

who is listed as a goddess and who occurs in

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

s. Her associations and original nature are unknown. Ilmr is attested at two points in the so-called ''

Nafnaþulur ''Nafnaþulur'' (Old Norse: ) is a subsection of the ''Prose Edda'', the last part of the ''Skáldskaparmál''. It is a listing in verse of names that may be used in poetry for various items, such as gods A deity or god is a supernatural bei ...

'' appended to the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'' book ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

'': between Iðunn and Bil in a list of ásynjur, and in a list of words that can be used in kennings for "woman". No further information other than her name is provided.Faulkes (1995:157). She is not mentioned in

Eddic poetry The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

, but her name does occur several times in

skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

of the 10th and 11th centuries, particularly in verses by Kormákr Ǫgmundarson.Hopkins (2014:32). It is impossible to determine the associations of the goddess Ilmr.

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the ''Deutsch ...

pointed out that while the goddess name ''Ilmr'' is feminine, the masculine word ''ilmr'' means "pleasant scent" (''suavis odor'');Grimm (1888:1374). an association with scent would be unique among Norse deities. Kormákr, at least, used

valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...

-names as well as goddess-names in forming kennings referring to women, and it is possible that he thought of Ilmr as a valkyrie; one other kenning using her name, in a verse preserved in '' Landnamabók'' and attributed to Hrómundr halti, is of a type (kennings for battle formed with a female name) that is only attested with names of valkyries. In his 1989 etymological dictionary of Icelandic, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggested that this might indicate the name ''Ilmr'' was related to the noun ''jalmr'' (noise) with which it is coupled in the kenning; this is a known type of valkyrie-name. Eir, Þrúðr, and the norn

Skuld Skuld ("debt" or "obligation"; sharing etymology with the English "should") is a Norn in Norse mythology. Along with Urðr (Old Norse "fate"Orchard (1997:169).) and Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).), Skuld makes ...

are other female figures variously identified as valkyries and goddesses within the Old Norse corpus. Alternatively, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests Ilmr is a tree

dís In Norse mythology, a dís (Old Norse: , "lady", plural dísir ) is a female deity, ghost, or spirit associated with Fate who can be either benevolent or antagonistic toward mortals. Dísir may act as protective spirits of Norse clans. It ...

, with a name etymologically related to ''almr'',

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

. The elm is associated in folklore in many nations with death, which might have led to her being classed as a valkyrie.Hopkins (2014:36–37).

Notes

References

* Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Edda''.

Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...

. * Grimm, Jacob (James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1888). '' Teutonic Mythology''. Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix by James Stallybrass. Volume IV. London: George Bell and Sons. * Hopkins, Joseph S. (2014).
Goddesses Unknown II: On the Apparent Old Norse Goddess Ilmr
. ''

RMN Newsletter ''RMN Newsletter'' is a peer-reviewed and open access academic journal published on a bi-annual basis by the University of Helsinki’s Department of Folklore Studies. Published in both digital and print editions, ''RMN Newsletter'' covers topics r ...

'' 8 (May 2014). 32–38. ISSN 1799-4497. {{Norse mythology Ásynjur

See also

Notes

References