Hrotti is a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed t ...

in the

Völsung cycle In Norse mythology, Völsung ( non, Vǫlsungr ) was the son of Rerir and the eponymous ancestor of the ill-fated Völsung clan (), which includes the well known Norse hero Sigurð. He was murdered by the Geatish king Siggeir and later avenged ...

(''

Fáfnismál ''Fáfnismál'' ('' Fáfnir's sayings'') is an Eddic poem, found in the Codex Regius manuscript. The poem is unnamed in the manuscript, where it follows '' Reginsmál'' and precedes ''Sigrdrífumál'', but modern scholars regard it as a separate p ...

'', ''

Völsunga saga The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century poetic rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the st ...

'', 20). It was a part of

Fáfnir In Nordic and wider Germanic mythology, Fáfnir (Old Norse pronunciation: �fɑːvnər is a mighty dwarf who is the son of Hreidmar, and brother of Regin and Ótr. Once cursed by Andvari's ring and gold, Fafnir slays his father out of greed ...

's treasure, which

Sigurðr 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 Meroving ...

took after he slew the dragon.

Kemp Malone Kemp Malone (March 14, 1889 in Minter City, Mississippi – October 13, 1971) was a prolific medievalist, etymologist, philologist, and specialist in Chaucer who was lecturer and then professor of English Literature at Johns Hopkins Universi ...

suggested that ''Hrotti'' was etymologically related to ''

Hrunting Hrunting was a sword given to Beowulf by Unferth in the ancient Old English epic poem ''Beowulf''. Beowulf used it in battle against Grendel's mother. Beowulf is described receiving the sword in lines 1455-1458: And another item lent by Unferth ...

''.

References

*Dillmann, François-Xavier. Notes de : Snorri Sturluson. ''L'Edda : récits de mythologie nordique''. Trad. du vieil-islandais, intr. et annoté par François-Xavier Dillmann. Paris : Gallimard, 2003. (L'Aube des peuples). P. 202. . Mythological Norse weapons Mythological swords {{Sword-stub