__NOTOC__
Álfröðull (
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is 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 of Scandinavia and t ...
"
elf-beam",
[Orchard (1997:153).] "elf-disc"
[Faulkes (1995:133).] or "elf-glory, elf-heaven"
[Machan (198]
105
.) is a term and common
kenning 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, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
. 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') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the 13th-century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to but may have been originally composed in the early 10th century. Many sc ...
'', verse 4
[Machan (198]
89
.) and to the rider (Sól herself). Álfröðull is pulled by two horses,
Árvakr and Alsviðr
In Norse mythology, Árvakr (Old Norse: , "early awake"Simek (2007:19).) and Alsviðr (, "very quick"Simek (2007:10—11).) are the horses which pull the sun, or Sól's chariot, across the sky each day. It is said that the gods fixed bellows unde ...
. The chariot is pursued by the wolf
Sköll. According to Norse mythology, prior to
Ragnarök
In Norse mythology, (; non, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disasters, and the submers ...
, 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'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 the ...
cites this passage in his account of Ragnarök in the ''
Gylfaginning'' section of his ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...
''.
[Faulkes (1995:57).]
Skaldic verse
Álfröðull also occurs as a kenning for the sun in
skaldic verse
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...
; 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 director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has, since 2009, been the editor of the academic journal '' Leeds Studies ...
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.
*
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 university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...
.
* 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)
pt:Alfrodul
sv:Alfrödul