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 ...

, Hlín is a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

associated with the goddess

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wetl ...

. Hlín appears in a poem 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 sources, the ''

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 ...

'', written in the 13th century by

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 ...

, and in

kennings A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

found in

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

ic poetry. Scholars have debated whether the stanza referring to her in the ''Prose Edda'' refers to Frigg. ''Hlín'' serves as a given name in Iceland, and Hlín receives veneration in the modern era in Germanic paganism's modern extension, Heathenry.

Etymology

Scholars frequently explain the meaning behind the goddess's name as 'protector'.See, for example, Orchard (1997:86) and Lindow (2001:177). The ''Prose Edda'' section ''Gylfaginning'' derives the name from a verb found in a

proverb A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...

in an obscure and otherwise unattested Old Norse proverb: ''Þiaðan af er þat orðtak at sá er forðask hleinir''. Scholars generally accept that the theonym ''Hlín'' derives from the verb ''hleina''. However, the verb ''hleina'' in which the section claims a derivation is obscure (a ''

hapax legomenon In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an Fixed expression, expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written re ...

''), and translators have attempted to work around it in a variety of manners, in some cases leaving the verb untranslated. Examples include the translations of

Anthony Faulkes Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the ''Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants ...

("From this comes the saying that someone who escapes finds refuge (''hleinir'')", 1995

987 Year 987 ( CMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two members of the military elite, begin a wi ...

and

Jesse Byock Jesse L. Byock (born 1945) is Professor of Old Norse and Medieval Scandinavian Studies in the Scandinavian Section at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Career He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. An archaeologist an ...

("From her name comes the expression that he who escapes finds ''hleinir'' eace and quiet, 2005).Hopkins (2017:31, 32–33). Scholars have proposed a variety of derivations for the verb. The verb is most commonly linked to Old English ''hlinian'' and ''hlænan'', ancestors to the modern English verb ''lean''. 19th century scholars, including

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the ''Deutsch ...

, linked ''hleina'' to the rare Old Norse noun ''hlynr'', meaning '

maple tree ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

'. Grimm links this derivation to a variety of tree figures found in folklore from the modern era in northwest Europe. Joseph Hopkins (2017) comments that this derivation may deserve further investigation in light of the potential connection between the Old Norse goddess name ''

Ilmr Ilmr (Old Norse) is a figure in Norse mythology who is listed as a goddess and who occurs in skaldic kennings. Her associations and original nature are unknown. Ilmr is attested at two points in the so-called ''Nafnaþulur'' appended to the ''Pros ...

'' and the Old Norse common noun ''almr'' (

Elm tree Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, p ...

), and says that "the potential of a protective tree goddess brings to mind a mysterious passage in the ''Prose Edda'' involving the

rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

, in which the tree is referred to as hor's''bjǫrg'' aid, help, salvation, rescue'.Hopkins (2017:31, 32–33, 35).

Attestations

In the ''Poetic Edda'' 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 ...

'', Hlín receives a mention regarding the foretold death of the god

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 ...

during the immense battle waged at

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...

:Then is fulfilled Hlín's :second sorrow, :when Óðinn goes :to fight with the wolf, :and
Beli Beli may refer to: People * Beli ap Rhun (c. 580–c. 599), king of Gwynedd * Beli I of Alt Clut (perhaps died ''c''. 627), Brittonic king * Beli II of Alt Clut (died ''c''. died 722), Brittonic king * Ljubiša Preletačević Beli (bor ...
's
slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...
, :bright, against
Surtr In Norse mythology, Surtr (Old Norse "black"Orchard (1997:154). or more narrowly "swart",Simek (2007:303–304) Surtur in modern Icelandic language, Icelandic), also sometimes written Surt in English, is a jötunn; he is the greatest of the fire ...
. :Then shall Frigg's :sweet friend fall.Dronke (1997:21).

The death of Odin (the stanza's "second sorrow") implies a first death. Scholars all but universally view this as a reference to the death of the god

Baldr Baldr (Old Norse also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, he is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in ...

, Frigg and Odin's son.Hopkins (2017:30). Some translators replace the reference of Hlín to a mention of Frigg due to their interpretations of the stanza (see discussion in ''Scholarly reception and interpretation'' section below).Examples include translations by Olive Bray (1908),

Carolyne Larrington Carolyne Larrington (born 1959 in Tripoli, Libya) is a Emeritus Research Fellow in English Literature of St John's College at the University of Oxford. Her research has primarily been on Old Norse and medieval Arthurian literature. Her areas of f ...

(1999),

Jeramy Dodds Jeramy Dodds (born 4 December 1974 in Ajax, Ontario) is a Canadians, Canadian poet. Born in Ajax, Ontario, Dodds grew up in Orono, Ontario. He studied English literature and anthropology at Trent University, medieval Icelandic studies at The U ...

(2014), and

Jackson Crawford Jackson W. Crawford (born August 28, 1985) is an American scholar, translator and poet who specializes in Old Norse. He previously taught at University of Colorado, Boulder (2017-2020), University of California, Berkeley (2014-17) and University ...

(2015). For discussion, see Hopkins (2017:31–32). In chapter 35 of the ''Prose Edda'' 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 ...

'', Hlín is listed twelfth among a series of sixteen goddesses.

High High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

tells Gangleri (earlier in the book described as King

Gylfi In Norse mythology, Gylfi (Old Norse: ), ''Gylfe'', ''Gylvi'', or ''Gylve'' was the earliest recorded king of Sviþjoð, Sweden, in Scandinavia. He is known by the name Gangleri when appearing in disguise. The Danish tradition on Gylfi tells how ...

in disguise) that Hlín "is given the function of protecting people whom Frigg wishes to save from some danger." High continues that, from this, comes the saying that "someone who escapes finds refuge (''hleinar'')."Faulkes (1995:30). The verb ''hleina'' in this passage is obscure and has yielded a variety of translations (see ''etymology'' section above). In chapter 51, the above-mentioned ''Völuspá'' stanza is quoted.Faulkes (1995:55). In chapter 75 of the book ''

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 ...

'' Hlín appears within a list of 27 ásynjur names.Faulkes (1995:157). In

skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

, the name Hlín is frequent in

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

s for women. Examples include ''Hlín hringa'' ('Hlín of rings'), ''Hlín goðvefjar'' ('Hlín of velvet') and ''arm-Hlín'' ('arm-Hlín'). The name is already used frequently in this way by the 10th-century poet

Kormákr Ögmundarson Kormákr Ögmundarson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) was a 10th-century Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of '' Kormáks saga'' which preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to him. According to ''Skáldatal,'' he was also the ...

and remains current in skaldic poetry through the following centuries, employed by poets such as

Þórðr Kolbeinsson Þórðr Kolbeinsson (''Thordr Kolbeinsson'') was an 11th-century Icelandic skald, or poet. He was the court poet of Eiríkr Hákonarson and some 17 stanzas of his poetry on the earl are preserved in the kings' sagas. The following example is from ...

, Gizurr Þorvaldsson and

Einarr Gilsson Einarr Gilsson was an Icelandic poet and official. He was the lögmaður of northern and western Iceland from 1367 to 1369. He is mentioned already in letters dating from 1339 and 1340 but his years of birth and death are unknown. He appears to h ...

. The name remained frequently used in woman kennings in

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...

poetry, sometimes as Lín. In a verse in '' Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings'', the phrase ''á Hlín fallinn'' ("fallen on Hlín") occurs. Some editors have emended the line while others have accepted the reading and taken Hlín to refer to

the earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is ...

.Björn Karel Þórólfsson and Guðni Jónsson (1943:341).

Modern influence

In line with a cultural practice to use Old Norse theonyms as

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

s, ''Hlín'' appears as a given name for females in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Like other goddesses from the North Germanic corpus, Hlín receives veneration in Heathenry.Hopkins (2017:31).

Scholarly reception and interpretation

Although the ''Prose Edda'' identifies Hlín as a separate goddess than Frigg, many scholars identify Hlín as another name for Frigg. For example, Andy Orchard says that in ''Völuspá'', Hlín appears to be just another name for Frigg, and adds that "the numerous occurrences of the name in skaldic poetry in poetic periphrases or kennings for women do nothing to dispel the confusion."Orchard (1997:86).

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 ...

agrees that Hlín seems to appear as another name for Frigg in ''Völuspá'', and that in skaldic poetry Hlín was a well-known mythological figure by the 10th century. Simek states that Hlín is likely simply another name for Frigg, and that Snorri "misunderstood her to be a goddess in her own right in his reading of the ''Völuspá'' stanza."Simek (2007:153). However, in the same work, Simek also says that the goddesses Sága, Hlín,

Sjöfn In Norse mythology, Sjöfn (or Sjǫfn in Old Norse orthography) is a goddess associated with love. Sjöfn is attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in three kennings employed in skaldic poetry. Schol ...

Snotra In Norse mythology, Snotra (Old Norse: , "clever")Orchard (1997:152). is a Áss, goddess associated with wisdom. Snotra is attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have proposed theories about the im ...

Vár In Norse mythology, Vár or Vór (Old Norse, meaning either "pledge"Orchard (1997:173). or "beloved"Byock (2005:178) and Simek (2007:353).) is a Áss, goddess associated with oaths and agreements. Vár is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled ...

, and

Vör In Norse mythology, Vör (Old Norse: ''Vǫr'', possibly "the careful one,"Simek (2007:368). or "aware, careful"Orchard (1997:181).) is a goddess associated with wisdom. Vör is attested in the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri S ...

should be considered vaguely defined figures who "should be seen as female protective goddesses" that are all responsible for "specific areas of the private sphere, and yet clear differences were made between them so that they are in many ways similar to

matrons Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in a hospital in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge ...

."Simek (2007:274). Some scholars express uncertainty at identifying Hlín as another name for Frigg, and others reject the identification altogether. In a 2017 paper on the topic, Hopkins agrees with Simek's comparison to the matrons and compares the scholarly reception of the goddess

Fulla Fulla (Old Norse: , possibly 'bountiful') or Volla (Old High German, 'plenitude') is a Ásynjur, goddess in Germanic paganism, Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Fulla is described as wearing a golden band and as tending to the Fraxinus exce ...

, another goddess closely associated with Frigg, to that of Hlín:

:"Like Hlín, the name ''Fulla'' full, bountiful'may be tempting to dismiss as a reading error on the part of a ''Prose Edda'' author or as a poetic invention ... Were it not for the preservation of the cognate theonym Volla in the Second Merseburg Charm, Fulla would remain in a similarly ambiguous position like that of Hlín, easily overlooked, dismissed, or deconstructed ... the correlations between the ''Prose Edda'' and the Second Merseburg Incantation provide something of a cautionary tale: namely, by dismissing information found solely in the ''Prose Edda'', one risks violating the foundational maxim of ''absence of evidence is not evidence of absence''. There is no reason to doubt that Hlín was an independent entity in Old Norse mythology and no positive evidence to suggest that Hlín was merely a by-name of Frigg."Hopkins (2017:34–35).

Referencing the iconography of the early Germanic matrons, Hopkins proposes an alternate reading of the ''Völuspá'' stanza in line with the ''Gylfaginning'' description of the goddess. In Hopkins's reading of the stanza, Hlín's sorrows are her inability to protect figures close to Frigg: the first sorrow would therefore be the death of Baldr, and the second sorrow the foretold death of Odin.Hopkins (2017:35).

Notes

References

* Björn Karel Þórólfsson and Guðni Jónsson (1943). ''Vestfirðinga sǫgur''. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag. * Dronke, Ursula (Trans.) (1997). ''The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems''.

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 ...

. * 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 and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...

. *

Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was born a ...

(1931). ''Lexicon Poeticum''. København: S. L. Møllers Bogtrykkeri. * Finnur Jónsson (1926–28). ''Ordbog til de af samfund til udg. af gml. nord. litteratur udgivne rímur samt til de af Dr. O. Jiriczek udgivne bósarimur''. København: J. Jørgensen & Co. * Finnur Jónsson (1912–1915). ''Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning'' A: ''Tekst efter håndskrifterne'', 2 vols. B: ''Rettet tekst'', 2 vols. København: Gyldendal. * Gísli Brynjúlfsson (1860). ''Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings''. Kjøbenhavn. * Hopkins, Joseph (2017). "Goddesses Unknown III: On the Identity of the Old Norse Goddess Hlín". ''

RMN Newsletter ''RMN Newsletter'' is a peer-reviewed and open access academic journal published on a bi-annual basis by the University of Helsinki’s Department of Folklore Studies. Published in both digital and print editions, ''RMN Newsletter'' covers topics r ...

'', No. 12-13, pp. 30–36.

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

. Online

* John Lindow, Lindow, John (2001).
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs
'.