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 ...

, Mímisbrunnr (

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 ...

" Mímir's well"Simek (2007:216).) is a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

associated with the being Mímir, located beneath the world tree Yggdrasil. Mímisbrunnr is attested in the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...

'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and 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 ...

'', written in the 13th century by

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 ...

. The well is located beneath one of

three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

roots of the world tree Yggdrasil, a root that passes into the

Jötunheimr The terms Jötunheimr (in Old Norse orthography: Jǫtunheimr ; often anglicised as Jotunheim) or Jötunheimar refer to either a land or multiple lands in Nordic mythology inhabited by the jötnar. are typically, but not exclusively, presente ...

where the primordial plane of

Ginnungagap In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap ( old Norse: ; "gaping abyss", "yawning void") is the primordial void mentioned in the Gylfaginning, the Eddaic text recording Norse cosmogony. Etymology ''Ginnunga-'' is usually interpreted as deriving from a ver ...

once existed. In addition, the ''Prose Edda'' relates that the water of the well contains much wisdom, and that

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

sacrificed one of his eyes to the well in exchange for a drink. In the ''Prose Edda'', Mímisbrunnr is mentioned as one of three wells existing beneath three roots of Yggdrasil, the other two being

Hvergelmir In Norse mythology, Hvergelmir (Old Norse: ; "bubbling boiling spring"Orchard (1997:93)) is a major spring. Hvergelmir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', writte ...

, located beneath a root in Niflheim, and Urðarbrunnr.

Attestations

''Poetic Edda''

In the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''

Völuspá ''Vǫluspá'' (also ''Völuspá'', ''Vǫlospá'' or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress'; reconstructed Old Norse: ) is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It tells the story of the creation of the world and ...

'', a

völva In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer", "wise woman" and "sorceress", and they are ...

recounts to

that she knows that Odin once placed one of his eyes in Mímisbrunnr as a pledge, and that Mímir drinks from the well every morning:

The above stanza is absent from the '' Hauksbók'' manuscript version of the poem. Elsewhere in the poem, the völva mentions a scenario involving the hearing or horn (depending on translation of the

noun ''hljóð''—bolded for the purpose of illustration) of the god

Heimdallr In Norse mythology, Heimdall (from Old Norse Heimdallr) is a god who keeps watch for invaders and the onset of Ragnarök from his dwelling Himinbjörg, where the burning rainbow bridge Bifröst meets the sky. He is attested as possessing for ...

Scholar Paul Schach comments that the stanzas in this section of Voluspa are "all very mysterious and obscure, as it was perhaps meant to be". Schach details that "''Heimdallar hljóð'' has aroused much speculation. Snorri seems to have confused this word with ''gjallarhorn'', but there is otherwise no attestation of the use of ''hljóð'' in the sense of 'horn' in Icelandic. Various scholars have read this as "hearing" rather than "horn".Schach (1985:93). Scholar

Carolyne Larrington Carolyne Larrington (born 1959) is a Professor of Medieval European Literature and Official Fellow of St John's College at the University of Oxford. Her research has primarily been on Old Norse and medieval Arthurian literature The Matter ...

comments that if "hearing" rather than "horn" is understood to appear in this stanza, the stanza indicates that Heimdall, like Odin, has left a body part in the well; his ear. Larrington says that "Odin exchanged one of his eyes for wisdom from Mimir, guardian of the well, while Heimdall seems to have forfeited his ear."Larrington (1999:265).

''Prose Edda''

In chapter 15 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''

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 enthroned figure

High High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

tells Gangleri (described as king

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 ...

in disguise) about Yggdrasil. High details that Yggdrasil has three roots. One of these roots reaches to where the primordial space of

once existed and where now the frost jötnar live. High explains that, beneath this root is Mímisbrunnr and that the well contains "wisdom and intelligence" and "the master of the well is called Mimir. He is full of learning because he drinks of the well from the horn Giallarhorn. All-father went there and asked for a single drink from the well, but he did not get one until he placed his eye as a pledge." After his explanation, High quotes the stanza involving Odin and the well from ''Völuspá''.Faulkes (1995:17).

Notes

References

* Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1936). ''The Poetic Edda''.

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

. New York:

The American-Scandinavian Foundation The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swede ...

. * 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 The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

. * Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.) (1999). ''The Poetic Edda''.

Oxford World's Classics Oxford World's Classics is an imprint of Oxford University Press. First established in 1901 by Grant Richards and purchased by OUP in 1906, this imprint publishes primarily dramatic and classic literature for students and the general public. ...

. * Schach, Paul (1985). "Some Thoughts on ''Völuspá''" as collected in Glendinning, R. J., Haraldur Bessason (Editors).
Edda: a Collection of Essays
'.

University of Manitoba Press The University of Manitoba Press (UMP) is an academic publishing house based at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Founded in 1967, the UMP is the first university press in western Canada. Publishing 12 to 14 books a year, UMP is regarded as ...

. * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer. * Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1866).
Edda Sæmundar Hinns Frôða: The Edda of Sæmund the Learned
'' Part I. London: Trübner & Co. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mimisbrunnr Locations in Norse mythology Holy wells

Attestations

''Poetic Edda''

''Prose Edda''

See also

Notes

References