Lóðurr

Lóðurr (Old Norse: ; also Lodurr) is a áss, god in Norse mythology. In the poem he is assigned a role in animating the first humans, but apart from that he is hardly ever mentioned, and remains obscure. Scholars have variously identified him with Loki, Vili and Vé, Vé, Vili and Freyr, but consensus has not been reached on any one theory.

Name and etymology

The name's meaning is unknown. It has been speculatively linked to various Old Norse words, such as , "fruit, land", , "people" and , "to attract". The Gothic language, Gothic words , "to grow" and , "shape", as well as the German language, German word , "to blaze", have also been mentioned in this context.

The metrical position of Lóðurr's name in the skaldic poem , composed in the strict dróttkvætt metre, indicates that it contains the sound value /ó/ rather than /o/. This evidence, while strong, is not incontrovertible and some scholars have held out for a reading. (Lóðurr's name can also be Old Norse orthography, represented or anglicized as , , , , , , , , , , , , , or .)

Danish and Norwegian , Swedish , as well as Finnish may possibly derive from , meaning "Saturday", although more typically the etymology is proposed to originate from Saturday#Name and associations, "washing day".

Attestations

Völuspá

In the Poetic Edda the name occurs only once; in , where the gods animate the first humans.

The precise meaning of these strophes and their context in ''Völuspá'' is debated. Most relevant for the present discussion are Lóðurr's gifts of and . The word is obscure and the translations "film of flesh" and "blood" are just two of the many possibilities that have been suggested. The phrase "litu góða" is somewhat less difficult and traditionally interpreted as "good colours", "good shape" or even "good looks".

The 19th-century Swedish scholar Viktor Rydberg proposed a reading of , meaning "shape of gods", and saw the line as indication that the gods created human beings in their own image. While the manuscripts do not distinguish between the phonemes /o/ and /ó/, most other scholars have preferred the /ó/ reading for meter (poetry), metrical reasons. The metrical structure of 's fornyrðislag is, however, not very rigid and in 1983 Rydberg's theory was championed again by Gro Steinsland. It remains debated.

Other attestations

Apart from the strophe in , Lóðurr's name occurs only twice in the original sources. The name is found in the skaldic poetry, skaldic poems and where "Lóðurr's friend" is used as a kenning for Odin. This seems consistent with Lóðurr's role in .

In Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'', Lóðurr is conspicuously absent. Here the creation of humans is attributed to the sons of Borr, whom Snorri names elsewhere as Odin, Vili and Vé.

Snorri often quotes in his work, but in this case he does not. We cannot know whether he knew the strophes above or whether he was working entirely from other sources.

Nordendorf fibula

Another source sometimes brought into the discussion is the Nordendorf fibula. This artifact, dating from about 600 Common Era, CE, contains the runes, runic inscription logaþorewodanwigiþonar. This is usually interpreted as ''Logaþore Wodan Wigiþonar'', where ''Wodan'' is Odin and ''Wigiþonar'' probably is Thor. It would be natural for ''logaþore'' to be the name of a third god, but there is no obvious identification in Norse mythology as we know it. Both Lóðurr and Loki have been proposed, but the etymological reasoning is tenuous, and firm conclusions cannot be reached.

Theories

Since the ''Prose Edda'' mentions the sons of Borr in the same context as ''Völuspá'' does Hœnir and Lóðurr, some scholars have reasoned that Lóðurr might be another name for either Vili or Vé. Viktor Rydberg was an early proponent of this theory, but recently it has received little attention.

A more popular theory proposed by the scholar Ursula Dronke is that ''Lóðurr'' is "a third name of Loki, Loki/Loptr". The main argument for this is that the gods Odin, Hœnir and Loki occur as a trio in ''Haustlöng'', in the prose prologue to ''Reginsmál'' and also in the ''Loka Táttur'' a Faroese people, Faroese ballad which is a rare example of the occurrence of Norse gods in folklore. The Odin-kenning "Lóðurr's friend" furthermore appears to parallel the kenning "Loptr's friend" and Loki is similarly referred to as "Hœnir's friend" in Haustlöng, strengthening the trio connection. While many scholars agree with this identification, it is not universally accepted. One argument against it is that Loki appears as a malevolent being later in , seemingly conflicting with the image of Lóðurr as a "mighty and loving" figure. Many scholars, including Jan de Vries (linguist), Jan de Vries and Georges Dumézil, have also identified Lóðurr as being the same deity as Loki.

Recently, Haukur Þorgeirsson of the University of Iceland suggested that Loki and Lóðurr were different names of the same deity based on that Loki is referred to as Lóður in the rimur . Haukur argues that whether the rimur is based on Snorri's or a folksource the writer must have had the information about the identification from either a tradition or drawn the conclusion based on Eddic poems, since Snorri does not mention Lóðurr in his Edda. Since the contents of the Poetic Edda are assumed to have been forgotten around 1400 when the rimur was written Haukur argues for a traditional identification. Haukur also points to where the same identification is made with Loki and Lóðurr. Haukur Þorgeirsson says that unless the possible but unlikely idea that the 14th and 15th century poets possessed lost written sources unknown to us, the idea must have come from either an unlikely amount of sources from where the poets could have drawn a similar conclusion that Loki and Lóðurr are identical like some recent scholars or that there still were remnants of an oral tradition. Haukur concludes that if Lóðurr was historically considered an independent deity from Loki, then a discussion of when and why he became identified with Loki is appropriate.

An identification with Freyr has also been proposed. This theory emphasizes the possible fertility-related meanings of Lóðurr's name but otherwise has little direct evidence to support it.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989). ''Íslensk orðsifjabók''. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.
* Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). ''The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Available onlin
at Google Books

* Sophus Bugge, Bugge, Sophus (1867). ''Norræn fornkvæði''. Christiania: Malling. Available online a
Sæmundar Edda
In particula
Völuspá

* Bæksted, Anders (1986). ''Goð og hetjur í heiðnum sið'', Eysteinn Þorvaldsson translated to Icelandic. Reykjavík: Örn og Örlygur. Pages 74 and 184.
* Ursula Dronke, Dronke, Ursula (1997). ''The Poetic Edda : Volume II : Mythological Poems''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. In particular p. 18 and pp. 124–5.
* Eysteinn Björnsson (2001). ''Lexicon of Kennings : The Domain of Battle''
KENNINGS
* Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). ''Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita''. 2005
GYLFAGINNING
* Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.).

This editor prefers the reading.
* Finnur Jónsson (1913). ''Goðafræði Norðmanna og Íslendinga eftir heimildum''. Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmentafjelag.
* Finnur Jónsson (1931). ''Lexicon Poeticum''. København: S. L. Møllers Bogtrykkeri.
* Jón Helgason (poet), Jón Helgason (1971). ''Eddadigte : Völuspá Hávamál'', 2. ændrede udg. København: Munksgaard.
* John Lindow, Lindow, John (2001). Handbook of Norse mythology. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. .
* Viktor Rydberg, Rydberg, Viktor (1886-1889). . Stockholm: Bonnier.
* Rudolf Simek, Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. 1993. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. . New edition 2000, .
* Sigurður Nordal (1952). . Reykjavík: Helgafell.
* Gro Steinsland, Steinsland, Gro (1983). "Antropogonimyten i Völuspá. En tekst- og tradisjonskritisk analyse." in , 1983, pp. 80 – 107. Lund.
* Benjamin Thorpe, Thorpe, Benjamin (tr.) (1866). ''Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða : The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned''. (2 vols.) London: Trübner & Co. Norroena Society edition (1905) available onlin
at Google Books
* Gabriel Turville-Petre, Turville-Petre, E. O. G. (1964). ''Myth and Religion of the North : The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia''. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. In particular pages 143-4.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodurr
Æsir
Creator gods
Norse gods
Loki
Freyr