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 ...

, Sumarr (

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 ...

: , "Summer"Orchard (1997:154).) and Vetr (, "Winter"Orchard (1997:174).) are personified

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

s. Sumarr and Vetr, personified, are 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 ...

. In both, the two are given genealogies, while in the ''Prose Edda'' the two figure into a number of kennings used by various

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 ...

Attestations

''Poetic Edda''

In the stanza 26 of the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''

Vafþrúðnismál ''Vafþrúðnismál'' ( Old Norse: "The Lay of Vafþrúðnir") is the third poem in the '' Poetic Edda''. It is a conversation in verse form conducted initially between the Æsir Odin and Frigg, and subsequently between Odin and the jötunn Vaf ...

'', the god

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, ...

(disguised as " Gagnráðr") asks the

jötunn A (also jotun; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; ; plural / ) or, in Old English, (plural ) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, they are often contrasted with gods ( Æsir and Vani ...

Vafþrúðnir Vafþrúðnir ( Old Norse: ; "mighty weaver"Orchard (1997:170).) is a wise jötunn in Norse mythology. His name comes from ''Vaf'', which means weave or entangle, and ''thrudnir'', which means strong or mighty. Some interpret it to mean "mighty i ...

from where warm Sumarr and Vetr come from, stating that they arrived "first among the Wise powers".Larrington (1996:44). In stanza 27, Vafþrúðnir responds:

:Wind-cool indsvalrhe is called, Winter's etr'sfather, :and Mild-One vásuðr the father of Summer umarr

The second half of this stanza is missing from early manuscripts, but some later manuscripts feature the addition of:

:And both of these shall ever be :Till the gods to destruction go.Bellows (1936:75).

''Prose Edda''

In chapter 19 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 ...

'', Gangleri (king Gylfi in disguise) asks why there's an evident difference between summer and winter. The enthroned figure of High responds, and (after scolding him for asking a question everyone knows the answer to) states that the father of Sumarr is Svásuðr, who is quite pleasant, while the father of Vetr is referred to as Vindsvalr or, alternately, Vindljóni, and that Vetr derives his countenance from his ancestors, as they are "cruel and cold-hearted kinsmen".Byock (2005:30). Sumarr and Vetr are additionally personified in the ''Prose Edda'' book ''

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, ...

'', where they are referred to in kennings. Kennings for Sumarr are given in chapter 30, including "son of Svásuðr", "comfort of the snakes", "growth of men", exemplified in an excerpt given from a work by the

Egill Skallagrímsson Egil Skallagrímsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a period fro ...

where "Valley-fish's mercy" points to "Snake's mercy", which signifies "Summer".Faulkes (1995:94). Kennings are given for Vetr in chapter 26; "Son of Vindsvalr", "snake's death", and "storm season". Excerpts of works by the skalds Ormr Steinþórsson (who uses the kenning "Vindsvalr's son") and Ásgrímr (who employs the kenning "snake woe") are then given as examples.Faulkes (1995:93). Both Sumarr and Vetr are given as terms for "times" in chapter 63.Faulkes (1995:144).

Notes

References

* Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1936). ''The Poetic Edda''. Princeton University Press. * Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005). ''The Prose Edda''.

Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the West ...

. * 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. ...

. * Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''.

Cassell Cassell may refer to: Companies * ''Cassell Military Paperbacks'', an imprint of Orion Publishing Group * ''Cassell's National Library'' * Cassell (publisher) (Cassell Illustrated or Cassell & Co.), a British book publisher now owned by the Orion ...

. Personifications in Norse mythology Seasons Mythological duos {{good article