Rán

In Norse mythology, Rán (Old Norse: ) is a goddess and a personification of the sea. Rán and her husband Ægir, a jötunn who also personifies the sea, have nine daughters, who personify waves. The goddess is frequently associated with a net, which she uses to capture sea-goers. According to the prose introduction to a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'' and in ''Völsunga saga'', Rán once loaned her net to the god Loki.

Rán is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled during the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the ''Prose Edda'', written during the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; in both ''Völsunga saga'' and '' Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna''; and in the poetry of skalds, such as '' Sonatorrek'', a 10th-century poem by Icelandic skald Egill Skallagrímsson.

Etymology

The Old Norse common noun ''rán'' means 'plundering' or 'theft, robbery'.Faulkes (1998: 250) and discussion in Simek (2007 993 260). In turn, scholars view the theonym ''Rán'' as meaning, for example, 'theft, robbery'.Simek (2007 993 260). On the etymology of the theonym, scholar Rudolf Simek says, "although the meaning of the name has not been fully clarified, Rán was probably understood as being 'robber' ... and has nothing to do with ld Norse''ráða'' 'rule'.

Because Rán is a personification of the sea, skalds employ her name in a variety of kennings to refer to the sea. Examples include ''Ránar-land'' ('Rán's land'), ''-salr'' ('Rán's hall'), and ''-vegr'' ('Rán's way'), and also ''rán-beðr'' ('the bed of Rán') meaning 'the bed of the sea'.Gudbrund Vigfusson (1874: 487–488).

Attestations

''Sonatorrek''

Rán and Ægir receive mention in the poem '' Sonatorrek'' attributed to 10th century Icelandic skald Egill Skallagrímsson. In the poem, Egill laments the death of his son Böðvar, who drowned at sea during a storm:

In one difficult stanza later in the poem, the skald expresses the pain of losing his son by invoking the image of slaying the personified sea, personified as Ægir (Old Norse ''ǫlsmið ' 'ale-smith') and Rán (''Ægis man'' 'Ægir's wife'):

''Poetic Edda''

Rán receives three mentions in the ''Poetic Edda''; twice in poetry and once in prose. The first mention occurs in a stanza in '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'', when the valkyrie Sigrún assists the ship of the hero Helgi Hundingsbane as it encounters ferocious waters:

In the notes for her translation, Larrington says that Rán "seeks to catch and drown men in her net" and that "to give someone to the sea-goddess is to drown them."Davidson (1999 996 279, 280).

The second instance occurs in a stanza found in '' Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar''. In this stanza, the hero Atli references Rán while flyting with Hrímgerðr, a female jötunn:

Finally, in the prose introduction to '' Reginsmál'', Loki visits Rán (here rendered as ''Ron'') to borrow her net:
: din and Hœnirsent Loki to get the gold; he went to Ron and got her net, and went then to Andvari's fall and cast the net in front of the pike, and the pike leaped into the net.Bellows (1936: 358–359).

Translator Henry Adams Bellows notes how this version of the narrative differs from how it appears in other sources, where Loki catches the pike with his own hands.

''Prose Edda''

The ''Prose Edda'' sections ''Skáldskaparmál'' and ''Háttatal'' contain several references to Rán. Section 25 of ''Skáldskaparmál'' ("How shall sea be referred to?") lists ways in which poets may refer to the sea, including "husband of Ran" and "land of Ran and of Ægir's daughters", but also "father of Ægir's daughters".Faulkes (1995 989 91). Anthony Faulkes renders her name ''Ran'' in his translation.

In the same section, the author cites a fragment of a work by the 11th century Icelandic skald Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, where Rán is referred to as ' Gymir's ... völva':

The section's author comments that the stanza " mpliesthat they are all the same, Ægir and Hler and Gymir.Faulkes (1998: 92). The author follows with a quote from another stanza by the skald that references Rán:

:But sea-crest- Sleipnir hip spray-driven, tears his breast, covered with red paint, out of white Ran's mouth he sea's grasp

Chapter 33 of ''Skáldskaparmál'' discusses why skalds may refer to gold as "Ægir's fire". The section traces the kenning to a narrative surrounding Ægir, in which the jötunn employs "glowing gold" in the center of his hall to light it "like fire" (which the narrator compares to flaming swords in Valhalla). The section explains that "Ran is the name of Ægir's wife, and the names of their nine daughters are as was written above ... Then the Æsir discovered that Ran had a net in which she caught everyone that went to sea ... so this is the story of the origin of gold being called fire or light or brightness of Ægir, Ran or Ægir's daughters, and from such kennings the practice has now developed of calling gold fire of the sea and of all terms for it, since Ægir and Ran's names are also terms for the sea, and hence gold is now called fire of lakes or rivers and of all river-names."Faulkes (1998:95). The chapter continues with discussion regarding the development of these kennings and the concept of allegory.

In the '' Nafnaþulur'' section of ''Skáldskaparmál'', Rán appears in a list of goddesses (Old Norse ''ásynjur'').Faulkes (1998: 157).

''Völsunga saga'' and ''Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna''

Rán receives a single mention in ''Völsunga saga''. Like in the prose introduction to the eddic poem ''Reginsmál'' (discussed above), "they sent Loki to obtain the gold. He went to Ran and got her net."Byock (1990: 58).

In the legendary saga '' Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna'', Friðþjófr and his men find themselves in a violent storm, and the protagonist mourns that he will soon rest in Rán's bed:

The protagonist then decides that as they are to "go to Rán" (''at til Ránar skal fara'') they would better do so in style with gold on each man. He divides the gold and talks of her again:

Scholarly reception and interpretation

According to Rudolf Simek, "... Rán is the ruler of the realm of the dead at the bottom of the sea to which people who have drowned go." Simek says that "while Ægir personifies the sea as a friendly power, Rán embodies the sinister side of the sea, at least in the eyes of the late Viking Age Icelandic seafarers."Simek (2007 993 260).

See also

* Sessrúmnir, the hall of the goddess Freyja, which may have been conceived of as a ship

Notes

References

* Byock, Jesse. 1990. Trans. ''The Saga of the Volsungs''. University of California Press.
*
* Kershaw, Nora. 1922. Trans. ''Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse Poems''. Cambridge at the University Press.
* Eiríkr Magnússon and Morris, William. Trans. 1875. ''Three Northern Love Stories and Other Tales''. Ellis & White.
* Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.). 1995 989 Trans. ''Edda''. Everyman.
* Faulkes, Anthony. (Editor). 1998. Trans. ''Edda: Skáldskaparmál''. I. Viking Society for Northern Research.
* Gudbrandur Vigfusson. 1874. Trans. ''An Icelandic-English Dictionary: Based on the Ms. Collections of the Late Richard Cleasby''. Clarendon Press.
* Bellows, Henry Adams. 1936. Trans. ''The Poetic Edda''. Princeton University Press. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
* Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.). 1999 996 Trans. ''The Poetic Edda''. Oxford World's Classics.
* Simek, Rudolf. 2007 993 Translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ran
Norse underworld
Ásynjur
Sea and river goddesses
Personifications in Norse mythology
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