In
Norse mythology, Sindri (
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 settlemen ...
: , from , "spark") is the name of both a character (probably 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 ...
) and a hall that will serve as a dwelling place for the souls of the virtuous after the events of
Ragnarök.
A dwarf
''
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 ...
''
(37) mentions "a hall of gods, of the lineage of Sindri" located northward, in
Niðavellir. There are several reasons to think that Sindri is probably a dwarf: his name is related with forging and the hall is made of gold (dwarves are said to be skillful smiths), the location of the hall is Niðavellir, which possibly means "dark fields" (dwarves live away from the sunlight).
Moreover Sindri is a dwarf in one of the manuscripts 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 t ...
''. In the
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, ...
(''
Codex Wormianus
The Codex Wormianus or AM 242 fol. is an Icelandic vellum codex dating from the mid-14th century. It contains an edition of the Prose Edda and some additional material on poetics, including the First Grammatical Treatise. It is the only manuscript ...
'' version),
Snorri Sturluson tells how the dwarves
Brokkr
In Norse mythology, Brokkr (Old Norse: , "the one who works with metal fragments; blacksmith", anglicized Brokk) is a dwarf, and the brother of Eitri or Sindri.
According to ''Skáldskaparmál'', Loki had Sif's hair, Freyr's ship Skíðblaðn ...
and
Eitri
In Norse mythology, Eitri (Old Norse: ; or Sindri) is a dwarf and the brother of Brokkr.
According to ''Skáldskaparmál'', when Loki had Sif's hair, Freyr's ship Skidbladnir and Odin's spear Gungnir fashioned by the Sons of Ivaldi, he bet ...
fashioned some of the magical objects used by the
gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...
(the boar of
Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...
,
Gullinbursti
Gullinbursti (Old Norse: , meaning "Gold Mane" or "Golden Bristles") is a boar in Norse mythology.
When Loki had Sif's hair, Freyr's ship Skíðblaðnir, and Odin's spear Gungnir fashioned by the Sons of Ivaldi, he bet his own head with Brok ...
, the silver ring of
Odin,
Draupnir
In Norse mythology, Draupnir (Old Norse: , "the dripper"Orchard (1997:34).) is a gold ring possessed by the god Odin with the ability to multiply itself: Every ninth night, eight new rings 'drip' from Draupnir, each one of the same size and weig ...
, and the hammer of
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...
,
Mjölnir
Mjölnir (from Old Norse Mjǫllnir) is the hammer of the thunder god Thor in Norse mythology, used both as a devastating weapon and as a divine instrument to provide blessings. The hammer is attested in numerous sources, including the 11th cen ...
). The names of the dwarves are not given in the three other main manuscripts but in the ''Codex Regius'', someone added more recently the names of Brokkr and Sindri.
Sindri is also a dwarf in ''
Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar''. He helps Þorstein to defeat a powerful enemy
(22-23) and to escape when he is taken prisoner
(25).
A hall
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 ...
'', Snorri refers to Sindri as the name of a golden hall that will serve as a dwelling place for the good and righteous after Ragnarök (along with
Brimir
In Norse mythology, Brimir is possibly another name for the jötunn Ymir and also a name of a hall for the souls of the virtuous following the end-time conflict of Ragnarök.
In the ''Gylfaginning'' section of the ''Prose Edda'' Brimir refers to ...
and
Gimlé
In Norse mythology, Gimlé (alternately Gimli as in Icelandic) is a place where the worthy survivors of Ragnarök are foretold to live. It is mentioned in the ''Prose Edda'' and the Eddic poem "Völuspá" and described as the most beautiful plac ...
):
For Rudolf Simek, this seems to be a transposition of the
Christian belief in
Heaven, despite the fact that Sindri is in Snorri's account located in Niðafjöll, the mountains from which the corpse-sucking dragon
Níðhöggr comes according to ''Völuspá''.
Some argue that Snorri's view of Sindri as a place rather than as a character may come from a misinterpretation of the stanza of ''Völuspá''.
[Orchard 2002.]
Notes and references
Notes
References
*
Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916
''Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda'' 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 ...
.
* Falk, Hjalmar & Torp, Alf: ''Etymologisk ordbog over det norske og det danske sprog'' (Oslo 1991). .
* Faulkes, Anthony (ed.). 1998. ''Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Skáldskaparmál''. Vol. 1, ''Introduction, Text and Notes''. London: Viking Society for Northern Research. .
* Larrington, Carolyne (trans.). 1999. ''The Poetic Edda''. First published in 1996. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
*
Lindow, John. 2002.
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs'. New York:
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. First published in 2001 by ABC-Clio. .
* Norwegian names - http://www.norskenavn.no/navn.php?id=203
* Orchard, Andy. 2002. ''Cassell's dictionary of Norse myth & legend''. London: Cassell. First published in 1997. .
*
Simek, Rudolf. 1996. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. Translated by Angela Hall. First published by Alfred Kröner Verlag in 1984. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. .
{{Norse mythology
Norse dwarves
Locations in Norse mythology
Elves