Hrímnir (
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 ...
: ) is a
jǫtunn 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 per ...
. He is the father of
Hljód.
Name
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 ...
name ''Hrímnir'' has been translated as 'frosty', 'the one covered with
hoarfrost', or 'the sooty one.' It is not clear whether the name is intended to evoke the frost giants or ''hrímþursar'' (jǫtunn).
[Quinn, p. 134.]
Attestations
In the ''
Völsunga saga'', Hrímnir is mentioned as the father of
Hljóð, who is sent by
Frigg as a "wish-maid" to
Rerir with the apple of fertility that will provide his wife offspring. Hrímnir himself sends his daughter Hljóð to be the wife of one of the children,
Völsung.
Hrímnir is listed among the jǫtnar in the
''þulur'' section of 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 ...
''.
[Siân Duke, "'' Kristni saga'' and its Sources: Some Revaluations," ''Saga-Book'' 25 (2001]
345–450
p. 396 (pdf).
In ''
Hyndluljóð''
(32), Hrímnir is the father of
Heiðr and Hrossþjófr,
but that may be just for the purpose of
alliteration
Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...
. He is also mentioned in ''
Skírnismál''
(28), probably as a typical
jötunn.
[Judy Quinn, "The Realisation of Mythological Design: The Early Generations of the Völsung Dynasty," in ]
In ''
Gríms saga loðinkinna'', Hrímnir is the father of the giantesses Feima and Kleima; his wife's name is Hyrja.
[ interprets this episode as an imitation of one in the '' Örvar-Oddr saga''.]
Theories
Scholars have argued that the story of Hrímnir in the ''
Völsunga saga'' resembles that of
Peredur in the
Matter of Britain
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Weste ...
, and the modern
folktale
A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally.
Folktale may also refer to:
Categories of stories
* Folkloric tale from oral tradition
* Fable (written form of the a ...
"
The Sea-Maiden."
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hrimnir
Jötnar