__NOTOC__ Álfröðull (

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 ...

elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

-beam",Orchard (1997:153). "elf-disc"Faulkes (1995:133). or "elf-glory, elf-heaven"Machan (198
105
.) is a term and common

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 ...

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 ...

. It is ambiguous, referring both to the sun-chariot of the sun goddess Sól (for example, Alfröðull is said to shine in ''

Skírnismál ''Skírnismál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Skírnir', but in the Codex Regius known as ''Fǫr Skírnis'' ‘Skírnir’s journey’) is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the 13th-century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM ...

'', verse 4Machan (198
89
.) and to the rider (Sól herself). Álfröðull is pulled by two horses, Árvakr and Alsviðr. The chariot is pursued by the wolf

Sköll In Norse mythology, Sköll (Old Norse: , "Treachery"Orchard (1997:150). or "Mockery"Simek (2007:292)) is a wolf that, according to Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'', chases the Sun (personified as a goddess, Sól) riding her chariot across th ...

. According to Norse mythology, prior to

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 ...

, Álfröðull will give birth to a daughter and after she is eaten by the wolf, the daughter will take her place.

''Vafþrúðnismál''

According to the poem ''

Vafþrúðnismál ''Vafþrúðnismál'' (Old Norse: "The Lay of Vafþrúðnir") is the third poem in the ''Poetic Edda''. It is a conversation in verse form conducted initially between the Æsir Odin and Frigg, and subsequently between Odin and the jötunn Vafþrú ...

'', verses 46–47: Óðinn kvað: :"Hvaðan kemr sól :á inn slétta himin, :er þessa hefr Fenrir farit?" Vafþrúðnir kvað: :"Eina dóttur :berr Alfröðull, :áðr hana Fenrir fari; :sú skal ríða, :þá er regin deyja, :móður brautir, mær."

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Old English language, Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated hi ...

's translation: Gagnrâd: :"Whence will come the sun :in that fair heaven, :when Fenrir has this devoured?" Vafthrûdnir: :"A daughter :shall Alfrodull bear, :ere Fenrir shall have swallowed her. :The maid shall ride, :when the powers die, :on her mother's course."Thorpe (190
16
.

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 ...

cites this passage in his account of Ragnarök in the ''

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 ...

'' section of his ''

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 ...

''.Faulkes (1995:57).

Skaldic verse

Álfröðull also occurs as a kenning for the sun in

skaldic verse 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 simplex, ''röðull'', is used with the same meaning, and

Alaric Hall Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and former director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has, since 2009, been the editor of the academic journal '' Leeds ...

therefore suggests in his book on the elves that the choice of "álfröðull" depended on alliteration, but that the existence of the kenning suggests that the concepts of the sun and the elves were "semantically congruent"; he considers the ''álfr'' (elf) in "álfröðull" possibly a heiti for Freyr.Hall, (200
3038
.

Notes

References

* 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 ...

. * Hall, Alaric. (2007). ''Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity''. Anglo-Saxon Studies 8. Boydell Press. * Machan, Tim William (Ed.) (1988). ''Vafþrúðnismál''. Durham Medieval Texts 6.

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

. * Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell. * Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). ''The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson''. Royal Edition. Norroena Society. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alfrodull Artifacts in Norse mythology Norse goddesses Personifications in Norse mythology Solar goddesses hr:Sol (božica) sv:Alfrödul