Dúrnir (
Old Norse: ) was a
dwarf
Dwarf or dwarves may refer to:
Common uses
*Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore
* Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...
who appears in the three Old Norse
skaldic poems
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...
which suggests that he once was a well-known dwarf 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, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
.
The most notable poem is known as ''
Ynglingatal'':
He also appears in a list of Dwarves in the anonymous ''Dverga heiti'':
:Alþjófr, austri,
:aurvangr ok dúfr,
:ái, andvari,
:ónn ok draupnir,
:dori ok dagfinnr,
:dulinn ok ónarr,
:alfr ok dellingr,
:óinn ok durnir.
The third poem is found in ''
Laufás-Edda Laufás-Edda (''Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar'') is a 17th-century redaction of the Snorra Edda, which survives in numerous Icelandic manuscripts.
History
Laufás Edda was compiled by the Icelandic priest and poet Magnús Ólafsson (c.1573–1636) on ...
'':
:Kveða skal hróðr fyr hríðar
:hræ-blakks viðum sævar,
:drykkr var Durnis rekkum
:døkkr, ljósara nøkkvi.
also includes Dúrnir in a list of
giants in the ''
Skáldskaparmál'' section of his ''
Prose Edda'' (Faulkes translation, p. 157).
It is possible that the name Durnir is an
emendation
An emendation is an alteration to a term, for a specific technical reason:
* Emendation (textual), altering a word to make sense, e.g. when incomplete or assumed to have been copied incorrectly
* Emendation (zoology), altering the spelling of the ...
of
Durinn
In Norse mythology, Durinn (Old Norse: ; or Durin) is a dwarf according to stanza 10 of the poem ''Völuspá'' from the ''Poetic Edda'', and repeated in ''Gylfaginning'' from the ''Prose Edda''. He was the second created after the first and foremo ...
, mentioned as the father of dwarves in
Dvergatal. Both names mean
door
A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...
, or door-warden. The names Durinn and Durnir do not appear in the same texts. The
Norwegian translation of
Ynglinga Saga from 1900 uses the name of
Durinn
In Norse mythology, Durinn (Old Norse: ; or Durin) is a dwarf according to stanza 10 of the poem ''Völuspá'' from the ''Poetic Edda'', and repeated in ''Gylfaginning'' from the ''Prose Edda''. He was the second created after the first and foremo ...
instead of Durnir.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durnir
Norse dwarves
Jötnar