Hnoss (

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 ...

: , "treasure") is one of the daughters of

Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...

and

Óðr In Norse mythology, Óðr (; Old Norse for the "Divine Madness, frantic, furious, vehement, eager", as a noun "mind, feeling" and also "song, poetry"; Orchard (1997) gives "the frenzied one"Orchard (1997:121).) or Óð, sometimes anglicized as Od ...

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 per ...

Name

The

term ''Hnoss'' has been translated in a variety of ways by scholars and folklorists. The Goddess Myths of the Great Mother claims that Hnoss' name was drawn from the word "Gem," in which she is described as sparkling like a diamond. Given Hnoss is the daughter of the most beautiful goddess Freya, it should come as no surprise that jewels bear her name. The ''Roles of the Northern Goddess'' similarly claims that Hnoss' name derives from a great beauty whose name may be "used for treasure in poetry" or simply "treasure." This translation shares semantic and etymological similarities with the Icelandic word ''hnoss'' (meaning "nipper") as well as the

Old Danish The Danish language developed during the Middle Ages out of Old East Norse, the common predecessor of Danish and Swedish. It was a late form of common Old Norse. The Danish philologist Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen divided the history of Danish int ...

words ''noss'' (meaning "sweetheart") and ''nusse'' (meaning "infant"). In the

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

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

states that beautiful things were called ''hnossir'' (Old Norse: 'treasures') after her name. Despite of all various interpretations, ''The Concept of The Goddess'', states that Hnoss "bears her mother's eyelash-rain," which translates to "there is gold on the precious object."

Attestations

In ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...

'' (The Beguiling of

Gylfi In Norse mythology, Gylfi (Old Norse: ), ''Gylfe'', ''Gylvi'', or ''Gylve'' was the earliest recorded king in Scandinavia. He often uses the name Gangleri when appearing in disguise. The traditions on Gylfi deal with how he was tricked by the god ...

), Hnoss is portrayed as the beautiful daughter of

and Óð: In ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...

'' (The Language of Poetry), a ''þulur'' (18–22) mentions Hnoss as the daughter of

("How shall Freyia be referred to? By calling her (...) mother of Hnoss"), and in

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his '' Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 1 ...

a passage (Chapter Ten) describes "Hnoss and Gersimi" as her daughters. Gersemi (whose name also means 'treasure' and only appears in this passage of the

) could be the same figure as Hnoss. The 12th-century

skald 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 traditional ...

Einarr Skúlason Einarr Skúlason (ca. 1100 – after 1159) was an Icelandic priest and skald. He was the most prominent Norse poet of the 12th century. Einarr's poetry is primarily preserved in ''Heimskringla'', ''Flateyjarbók'', ''Morkinskinna'', ''Fagrski ...

, cited by Snorri in ''Skáldskaparmál'', refers to Hnoss in a kenning as Freyia's "glorious child" and Freyr’s niece:

Little Hnoss

Hnossa was exploited as a child as a pawn to get her father Odur back. People predicted that Hnoss would reunite her mother Freya and father Odur, according to The Children of Odin, The Book of Northern Myths. As a child, Hnoss would go to Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge, to meet Odur if he was traveling in that direction. During her time at the Rainbow Bridge, Hnoss was entertained with stories by Heimdall. Heimdall, who kept watch over the Rainbow Bridge, revealed to Hnoss that he possessed night vision and never slept. Heimdall claimed to have existed since the beginning of time and told Hnoss tales about the creation of various things. While Odur remained absent, Hnoss was taken to Baldur's Stead to comfort her in her sorrow. Baldur's Stead was believed to be a place where healing occurred. In order to assist Hnoss cope with her sorrow of her absent father, Baldur's wife Nanna cradled her. With Nanna by her side, Hnoss shared a strange dream she had about Queen Hela, a queen who was half living woman and half corpse. In Hnoss' dream Hela entered Asgard and declared "A lord of the Æsir I must have to dwell with me in my realm beneath the earth." Hnoss was paralyzed by fear after experiencing this dream. When Hnoss revealed her dream, everyone became silent. At that moment, Hnoss' presence in this story came to an end.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Norse mythology Vanir Norse goddesses Freyja