''Heimdalargaldr'' (

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 ...

: '

Heimdallr In Norse mythology, Heimdall (from Old Norse Heimdallr; modern Icelandic language, Icelandic Heimdallur) is a Æsir, god. He is the son of Odin and nine mothers. Heimdall keeps watch for invaders and the onset of Ragnarök from his dwelling Himi ...

's Galdr') is an Old Norse poem about the god Heimdallr of

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 ...

. The poem is mentioned in two books of the 13th century ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'' book—''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...

'' and ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

''—but outside of a single, two-lined fragment that appears in ''Gylfaginning'', the poem is considered to be lost. In the surviving fragment, Heimdallr comments that he is the son of nine sisters (the

Nine Mothers of Heimdallr In Norse mythology, the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr are nine sisters who gave birth to the god Heimdallr. The Nine Mothers of Heimdallr are attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; in the poetry of skalds; and ...

Fragment

The poem is mentioned in two books of the ''Prose Edda''; ''

'' and ''

''. The sole surviving fragment of ''Heimdalargaldr'' appears in chapter 25 of ''Gylfaginning''. In the chapter, the enthroned figure of High tells the disguised mythical king Gangleri about the god Heimdallr, including that he is the son of nine sisters. After quoting a stanza about the Heimdallr's dwelling Himinbjörg from the poem '' Grímnismál'', High comments that Heimdallr says the following lines in a work by the name of ''Heimdalargaldr'':

In chapter 8 of ''Skáldskaparmál'', various ways to refer to Heimdallr are provided. The section notes that Heimdallr is the subject of a work known as ''Heimdalargaldr'', and that, since the poem, "the head has been called Heimdall's doom: man's doom is an expression for sword."Faulkes (1995:76).

Commentary

Scholar

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 ...

comments that the ''Heimdalargaldr'' must have provided information about the deeds and feats of Heimdallr, and that having the poem preserved would have helped with the difficulties that what survives about it presents, such as Heimdallr's birth by way of nine sisters and why a head would be known as "Heimdallr's sword".Lindow (1998:168).

References

Sources

* Brodeur, Anthony Gilchrist (Trans.) (1916). ''The Prose Edda''.

The American-Scandinavian Foundation The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swe ...

. * Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). ''Edda''. Everyman. * Lindow, John (2002). ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. {{Prose Edda Old Norse poetry Prose Edda