Gríðr (

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 ...

: ; or Gríd) is a

jötunn A (also jotun; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; ; plural / ) or, in Old English, (plural ) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, they are often contrasted with gods (Æsir and Vanir ...

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 peri ...

. She is the mother of

Víðarr In Norse mythology, Víðarr (Old Norse: , possibly "wide ruler",Orchard (1997:174—175). sometimes anglicized as Vidar , Vithar, Vidarr, and Vitharr) is a god among the Æsir associated with vengeance. Víðarr is described as the son of Odin ...

the silent and the consort of Odin. Saturn's moon Gridr was named after her.

Name

The poetic

name ''Gríðr'' has been translated as "vehemence, violence, or impetuosity". Its etymology is unclear.

Attestations

Prose Edda

In ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the '' Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...

'' (The Language of Poetry), Gríðr is portrayed as equipping the

thunder god Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder god, the personification or source of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction, and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-European c ...

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing ...

with her belt of strength, her iron glove, and her staff ''Gríðarvöl'' (Gríðr's-staff) on Thor's journey to the abode of Geirröðr. Gríðr is also mentioned in a list of troll-wives ("I shall list the names of troll-wives. Grid and Gnissa, Gryla...").

Skaldic poetry

''Gríðarvöl'' (Gríðr's staff) is also mentioned in the poem ''

Þórsdrápa ''Þórsdrápa'' (also ''Thorsdrapa''; Old Norse: 'The Lay of Thor') is a skaldic poem by Eilífr Goðrúnarson, a poet in the service of Jarl Hákon Sigurðarson. The poem is noted for its creative use of kennings and other metaphorical devices, ...

'' by the late-10th-century skald

Eilífr Goðrúnarson Eilífr Goðrúnarson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) was a late 10th-century skald 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 p ...

. Gríðr appears in 10th-century

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English ...

s for 'wolf' (the steed of troll-wife) and for 'axe' (that which is dangerous to the life-protector, i.e. shield or helmet).

Other texts

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), 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 Denma ...

refers to her as ''Grytha'', the wife of the legendary king

Dan I of Denmark Dan I was the progenitor of the Danish royal house according to Saxo Grammaticus's ''Gesta Danorum''. He supposedly held the lordship of Denmark along with his brother Angul, the father of the Angles in Angeln, which later formed the Anglo-Saxons ...

, "a lady whom the Teutons accorded the highest honour". A witch of the same name appears in ''

Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra is a ''fornaldarsaga'' about a young Dane named Illugi who delivers a female troll and her daughter from a curse. The earliest manuscript (of 36 which are known to exist) dates from the first half of the 16th century (AM ...

''.

Theory

Her role as the donor of information and necessary items to the hero has been analyzed by

folklorists Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

Name

Attestations

Prose Edda

Skaldic poetry

Other texts

Theory

Notes

References

Bibliography