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 ...

, Dvalinn (

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 ...

: ) is a dwarf (Hjort) who appears in several Old Norse tales and

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 ...

s. The name translates as "the dormant one" or "the one slumbering" (akin to the Danish and Norwegian "dvale" and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

"dvala", meaning "sleep", "unconscious condition" or "hibernation"). Dvalinn is listed as one of the four stags of Yggdrasill in both ''

Grímnismál ''Grímnismál'' (Old Norse: ; 'The Lay of Grímnir') is one of the mythological poems of the '' Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the Codex Regius manuscript and the AM 748 I 4to fragment. It is spoken through the voice of ''Grímnir'', one o ...

'' from the '' Poetic Edda'' and ''

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 ...

'' from the '' Prose Edda''.

Attestation

''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 an ...

'', Dvalinn is mentioned as a name in the listing of dwarves, and again in a later stanza as a leader taking a host of dwarfs from the mountains to find a new dwelling place: :"The rocks they left, and through wet lands :They sought a home, in the fields of sand" In ''

Hávamál ''Hávamál'' ( ; Old Norse: ,Unnormalised spelling in the :Title: Final stanza: ../ref> classical pron. , Modern Icelandic pron. , ‘Words of he High One��) is presented as a single poem in the Icelandic , a collection of Old Norse poems fro ...

'', Dvalinn is said to have introduced the writing of

runes Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

to the dwarfs, as Dáinn had done for the

elves 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 "lig ...

and Odin for 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 great ...

. In '' Alvíssmál'', a kenning for the sun is listed as the "deceiver of Dvalinn", referring to the sun's power of turning dwarfs into stone. In

skaldic poetry 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 traditionall ...

, "Dvalinn's drink" is used as a kenning for poetry, since the mead of poetry was originally created by the dwarfs. In '' Fáfnismál'', during a discussion between

Sigurd Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovi ...

and Fafnir concerning the minor

Norns The Norns ( non, norn , plural: ) are deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.'' Nordisk familjebok'' (1907) In the ''Völuspá'', the three primary Norns Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi, and Skuld draw w ...

(apart from the three great Norns), those who govern the lives and destinies of dwarfs are also known as "Dvalinn's daughters".

Sagas

In '' Hervarar saga'', Dvalinn is one of a pair of dwarves (including Durin) who forged the magic sword Tyrfing.

Sörla þáttr

In the ''

Sörla þáttr ''Sörla þáttr eða Heðins saga ok Högna'' is a short narrative from the extended version ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta''The ''Younger Edda''. Rasmus B. Anderson transl. (1897) Chicago: Scott, Foresman & Co. (1901). found in the ''Fla ...

'', an Icelandic short story written by two

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

s in the 15th century, Dvalinn is the name of one of the four dwarves (including Alfrigg, Berling and Grer) who fashioned a necklace which was later acquired by a woman called Freyja, who is King Odin's concubine, after she agreed to spend a night with each of them.

Kálfsvísa

In the ''

Kálfsvísa The ''Kálfsvísa'' ("Kálfr's '' vísa''", Kálfr being maybe the name of its author) is a poem partially preserved in Snorri Sturluson’s ''Skáldskaparmál''. Its three stanzas in '' fornyrðislag'' mostly consist of a þula of horses and the ...

'', Dvalinn is mentioned in a list of Norse heroes riding their horses onto the ice. Dvalinn rides a horse named Móðnir ("Spirited").

Modern influence

J. R. R. Tolkien took the name as Dwalin for one of the dwarves in ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...

''. Rich Burlew has Dvalin as the first king of the Dwarves, an ascended

demigod A demigod or demigoddess is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the " divine spark" (spiritual enlightenment). ...

of the Northern Pantheon in '' The Order of the Stick''. In Joanne Harris' ''The Gospel of Loki'', Dvalin is the name of one of the Sons of Ivaldi. In '' Genshin Impact'', Dvalin is the name of a member of the Four Winds in Mondstadt created by the God of the wind, Barbatos.

Footnotes

References

* ''The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection'' (London: Penguin, 2001) Norse dwarves Swordsmiths Tyrfing cycle {{Norse-myth-stub