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Rindr (
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 ...
: ) or Rinda (Latin) (sometimes Anglicized Rind) is a female character 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 ...
, described either as a goddess or a human princess. She was impregnated by
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 ...
and gave birth to the avenger of
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 ...
's death—in the Old Norse sources,
Váli In Norse mythology, Váli (Old Norse) or Boe or Bous (Latin) is a god and the son of the god Odin and Rindr (who is either a goddess herself or a human princess, depending on the sources). Váli has numerous brothers including Thor, Baldr, and ...
.
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 ...
's ''
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 ...
'' refers to Rindr as the mother of Váli and one of the ásynjur (goddesses)."Rind".
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 ...
. 2001. ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs''. (Oxford / New York: Oxford University), 262–63.
"Rindr".
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 ...
. Tr. Angela Hall. 1993, repr. 2000. ''A Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. (Cambridge: Brewer), 265–66.
The most detailed account is in Book III of the ''
Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...
'', written by
Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...
around the early 13th century. There, she is a human princess named Rinda and is the daughter of the King of the
Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...
. After Balderus' death, Othinus consulted seers on how to get revenge. On their advice, Othinus went to the Ruthenians disguised as a warrior called Roster. There, he was twice turned down by Rinda. He then wrote runes on a piece of bark and touched her with it, causing her to go mad, and disguised himself as a medicine woman called Wecha, who was allowed to see her. She finally fell ill; the disguised Othinus then said he had medicine with which to cure her, but that it would cause a violent reaction. On Othinus' advice, the king tied Rinda to her bed and Othinus proceeded to rape her. From the rape was born Bous, who would later avenge Balderus. Jan de Vries. 2nd ed. 1957, repr. 1970. ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte''. 2 vols. Vol. 2. (Berlin: De Gruyter), 79–80. Óðinn’s rape of Rindr is described once outside the ''Gesta Danorum'', in a line of stanza 3 of ''Sigurðardrápa'', a poem by
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 ...
praising
Sigurðr Hlaðajarl Sigurd Håkonsson (died 962) () was a Norwegian nobleman and Jarl of Lade in Trøndelag. Sigurd Håkonsson Ladejarl was the son of Håkon Grjotgardsson, the first Jarl of Lade (). In 900, Håkon came into conflict with Atle Mjove over Sogn and ...
, who ruled around
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...
in the mid-10th century. Like other such praise-poems, it is generally assumed to be genuine rather than a later pseudo-historical composition. Kormákr’s verse contains the statement, ''seið Yggr til Rindar'' (Yggr “ðinn enchanted Rindr), denoting Óðinn’s magical rape of Rindr with the verb ''síða''. This suggests that Kormakr thought the magic known as ''
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 ...
'' was integral to Óðinn’s raping of Rindr, and is important evidence for Óðinn's association with this kind of magic. Another passage that may refer to the same event is in verse 6 of the
Eddic poem 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 p ...
"
Grógaldr ''Grógaldr'' or ''The Spell of Gróa'' is the first of two Old Norse poems, now commonly published under the title ''Svipdagsmál'' found in several 17th-century paper manuscripts with '' Fjölsvinnsmál''. In at least three of these manuscripts, ...
": ''þann gól Rindi Rani'' (that
harm Harm is a morality, moral and law, legal concept with multiple definitions. It generally functions as a synonym for evil or anything that is bad under certain moral systems. Something that causes harm is harmful, and something that does not is har ...
Rani chanted to Rindr). Rindr's name occurs in several skaldic verses and in "
Baldrs draumar ''Baldrs draumar'' (Old Norse: 'Baldr's dreams') or ''Vegtamskviða'' is an Eddic poem which appears in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to. It describes the myth of Baldr's death consistently with ''Gylfaginning''. Bellows suggest that the poem was com ...
", where alliteration suggests it may originally have been *''Vrindr''; the etymology remains uncertain but there may be a connection with the Swedish placename Vrinnevi or Vrinnevid, near
Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...
.De Vries 332.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rindr Gýgjar Mythological rape victims Mythological princesses