__NOTOC__ Álfröðull (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

-beam",Orchard (1997:153). "elf-disc"Faulkes (1995:133). or "elf-glory, elf-heaven"Machan (198
105
.) is a term and common

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English ...

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 peri ...

. It is ambiguous, referring both to the sun-chariot of the sun goddess Sól (for example, Alfröðull is said to shine in ''

Skírnismál ''Skírnismál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Skírnir') is one of the poems of the '' Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the 13th-century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to but may have been originally composed in the early 10th century. Many ...

'', verse 4Machan (198
89
.) and to the rider (Sól herself). Álfröðull is pulled by two horses,

Árvakr and Alsviðr In Norse mythology, Árvakr (Old Norse: , "early awake"Simek (2007:19).) and Alsviðr (, "very quick"Simek (2007:10—11).) are the horses which pull the sun, or Sól's chariot, across the sky each day. It is said that the gods fixed bellows undern ...

. The chariot is pursued by the wolf

Sköll In Norse mythology, Sköll (Old Norse: ''Skǫll'', "Treachery"Orchard (1997:150). or "Mockery"Simek (2007:292)) is a wolf that, according to Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'', chases the Sun (personified as a goddess, Sól). Hati Hróðvitnis ...

. According to Norse mythology, prior to

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (; non, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disasters, and the submers ...

, Álfröðull will give birth to a daughter and after she is eaten by the wolf, the daughter will take her place.

''Vafþrúðnismál''

According to the 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� ...

'', verses 46–47: Óðinn kvað: :"Hvaðan kemr sól :á inn slétta himin, :er þessa hefr Fenrir farit?" Vafþrúðnir kvað: :"Eina dóttur :berr Alfröðull, :áðr hana Fenrir fari; :sú skal ríða, :þá er regin deyja, :móður brautir, mær."

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated him for tuberculosis. ...

's translation: Gagnrâd: :"Whence will come the sun :in that fair heaven, :when Fenrir has this devoured?" Vafthrûdnir: :"A daughter :shall Alfrodull bear, :ere Fenrir shall have swallowed her. :The maid shall ride, :when the powers die, :on her mother's course."Thorpe (190
16
.

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 ...

cites this passage in his account of Ragnarök in the ''

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 wi ...

'' section of his ''

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 ...

''.Faulkes (1995:57).

Skaldic verse

Álfröðull also occurs as a kenning for the sun in

skaldic verse 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 traditionally ...

; the simplex, ''röðull'', is used with the same meaning, and

Alaric Hall Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has, since 2009, been the editor of the academic journal ''Leeds Studies i ...

therefore suggests in his book on the elves that the choice of "álfröðull" depended on alliteration, but that the existence of the kenning suggests that the concepts of the sun and the elves were "semantically congruent"; he considers the ''álfr'' (elf) in "álfröðull" possibly a heiti for Freyr.Hall, (200
3038
.

Notes

References

* 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 ...

. * Hall, Alaric. (2007). ''Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity''. Anglo-Saxon Studies 8. Boydell Press. * Machan, Tim William (Ed.) (1988). ''Vafþrúðnismál''. Durham Medieval Texts 6.

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_ch ...

. * Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell. * Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). ''The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson''. Royal Edition. Norroena Society. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alfrodull Artifacts in Norse mythology Norse goddesses Personifications in Norse mythology Solar goddesses hr:Sol (božica) pt:Alfrodul sv:Alfrödul