Gillingr (
Old Norse: ; also Gilling) is a
jötunn in
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 period ...
, and the father of
Suttungr
In Norse mythology, Suttungr ( ; Old Norse: ) was a ''jötunn'' and the son of Gilling.
Mythology
Suttungr searched for his parents and threatened the dwarven brothers Fjalar and Galar who had killed them, tying them and some other dwarves wh ...
. Gillingr and, later, his wife are murdered by the dwarfs
Fjalar and Galar. In revenge, his son Suttungr tortures the dwarfs into giving him the
mead of poetry.
Name
The
Old Norse name ''Gillingr'' has been translated as 'screamer'. It is a related to the Old Norse verb ''gjalla'' ('to scream, yell'; compare with
Icelandic ''gjalla'',
Norwegian ''gjella'', or
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 ...
''gälla'').
Attestations
Prose Edda
In ''
Skáldskaparmál'' (The Language of Poetry), the dwarfs
Fjalar and Galar kill Gillingr by overturning his boat. When his wife hears of the news, she is "greatly distressed" and "weeps loudly" and the dwarf Galar, "weary of her howling", eventually kills her by dropping a millstone on her head.
Viking Age
Gillingr is mentioned in a skaldic verse by
Eyvindr skáldaspillir (10th c. AD), who portrays the mead of poetry as "Gilling’s recompense".
Legacy
Gillingr is also a surname, although not very common.
References
Bibliography
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{{Norse mythology
Jötnar