Gullveig (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

: ) is a female figure 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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

associated with the legendary conflict between the

Æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...

and

Vanir In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse:, singular Vanr) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...

. In the poem ''

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

'', she came to the hall of

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

( Hár) where she is speared by the

, burnt three times, and yet thrice reborn. Upon her third rebirth, she began practicing

seiðr In Old Norse, (sometimes anglicized as ''seidhr'', ''seidh'', ''seidr'', ''seithr'', ''seith'', or ''seid'') was a type of Magic (paranormal), magic which was practiced in Vikings, Norse society during the Iron Age Scandinavia, Late Scandinavian ...

and took the name Heiðr. Gullveig/Heiðr is solely attested in the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material. Scholars have variously proposed that Gullveig/Heiðr is the same figure as the goddess

Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...

, that Gullveig's death may have been connected to corruption by way of gold among the Æsir, and/or that Gullveig's treatment by the Æsir may have led to the

Æsir–Vanir War In Norse mythology, the Æsir–Vanir War was a conflict between two groups of deities that ultimately resulted in the unification of the Æsir and the Vanir into a single Pantheon (religion), pantheon. The war is an important event in Norse mytho ...

Etymology

The

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the

name ''Gullveig'' remains uncertain. It is a compound formed with the Old Norse word for 'gold' (''gull''), yet the second element–found in other personal names like ''Rannveig'', ''Sölveig'', or ''Thórveig''–remains obscure. It could have meant 'power, strength' (cf. Icelandic ''veig'', Faroese ''veiggj''), 'intoxicating drink' (cf. Norwegian ''veigja''), possibly 'lady' (cf. Norw. ''veiga'') or even 'gold, gold thread' (cf.

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''wāg'',

Old Saxon Old Saxon (), also known as Old Low German (), was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Eur ...

''wēg''). The name has been variously translated as 'Gold-drink', 'Gold-drunk', or as 'Gold-draught'.' ''Gullveig'' is sometimes held to be a personification of gold itself, purified through repeated smelting.' The name '' Heiðr'', which in adjectival form means 'bright, clear', is semantically related. Scholar

Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author ...

comments that although Gullveig's name changes to ''Heiðr'', the meaning still remains basically the same.

Attestations

Gullveig is solely attested in a

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...

of ''

'' (Prophecy of the

Völva In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer" and "sorceress", and they are frequently calle ...

) immediately preceding the story of the

''.'' A völva (seeress) recalls that Gullveig was pierced by spears before being burnt three times in the hall of Hárr (one of Odin's names), and yet was three times reborn. Presumably after her burning, Gullveig became known as ''Heiðr'', a knowledgeable völva who could perform great feats:

Theories

Starting with scholar

Gabriel Turville-Petre Edward Oswald Gabriel Turville-Petre (25 March 1908 – 17 February 1978) was an English philology, philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies. Born at Bosworth Hall (Husbands Bosworth), Bosworth Hall, Leicestershire to a prominent ...

, many scholars such as

and

John Lindow John Frederick Lindow (born July 23, 1946) is an American philologist who is Professor Emeritus of Old Norse and Folklore at University of California, Berkeley. He is a well known authority on Old Norse religion and literature. Biography John Lin ...

have theorized that Gullveig/Heiðr is the same figure as Freyja. Lindow notes that "since ''

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' sagas, Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelanders, Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into Engl ...

'' says that Freyja first brought ''seid'' to the

æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods in general or specifically ...

, it is not impossible that Gullveig is Freyja, and that she brought ''seid'' to the æsir in the first instance either as a strategy in the war, or that her bringing of seid started the war." Orchard further mentions that Freyja, like Gullveig, is associated with gold and with the form of magic known as ''seid''.'

Notes

References

* Bellows, Henry Adams (1923). ''The Poetic Edda''. American-Scandinavian Foundation. * * * * Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans) (1907). ''Edda Sæmundar Hinns Frôða The Edda of Sæmund the Learned''. Part I. London Trübner & Co. * {{Norse paganism footer Female supernatural figures in Norse mythology Freyja Vanir Magic goddesses Witchcraft in folklore and mythology

Etymology

Attestations

Theories

See also

Notes

References