Gunnr (alternatively ''guðr'') is an

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 ...

term meaning "battle". It is the name of a

valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997:36) ...

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 ...

, and was also used as a feminine given name. The modern forms ''Gun'' and ''Gunn'' remain in use as a feminine given name in Scandinavia.nordicnames.de
/ref> The word is from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

'' *gunþiz'', which is a common element of

Germanic name Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', for "noble", and ', for "counsel". However, there are al ...

s not only in North but also in West Germanic, as second element especially frequent in feminine names (as in Hildegund), as first element also in masculine names (as in

Gunther Gundaharius or Gundahar (died 437), better known by his legendary names Gunther ( gmh, Gunther) or Gunnar ( non, Gunnarr), was a historical king of Burgundy in the early 5th century. Gundahar is attested as ruling his people shortly after they ...

). The earliest attestation of the name is on the

Rök Stone Rök is a parish located in Östergötland, Sweden. It is mostly known for being the location where the Rök runestone The Rök runestone ( sv, Rökstenen; Ög 136) is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic in ...

where it occurs as part of a

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 po ...

for

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

: :Þat sagum tvalfta, hvar hæstʀ se Gunnaʀ etu vettvangi a, kunungaʀ tvaiʀ tigiʀ svað a liggia. :"I say this the twelfth, where the horse of Gunnr sees fodder on the battlefield, where twenty kings lie."

Valkyrie

Gunnr is also mentioned in the ''

Völuspá ''Vǫluspá'' (also ''Völuspá'', ''Vǫlospá'' or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress'; reconstructed Old Norse: ) is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It tells the story of the creation of the world and ...

'' in a list of valkyries, ''Gunnr, Hildr, Göndul / ok Geirskögul''. The ''

Darraðarljóð ''Darraðarljóð'' is a skaldic poem in Old Norse found in chapter 157 of ''Njáls saga''. The song, which is seen in a vision by a man named Dorrud, the song consists of 11 stanzas, and within it twelve :valkyries weave and choose who is to be s ...

'' gives ''Guðr'' as one of six names of valkyries. In the ''

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 ...

'' Gunnr is singled out along with

Róta In Norse mythology, Róta is a valkyrie. Róta is attested in chapter 36 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''Gylfaginning'', where she is mentioned alongside the valkyries Gunnr and Skuld, and the three are described as "always idingto choose who shall be ...

and

Skuld Skuld (the name possibly means "debt" and is related to the English word "should") is a Norn in Norse mythology. Along with Urðr (Old Norse "fate"Orchard (1997:169).) and Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).), Skuld mak ...

as one of the valkyries who always ride out to choose the slain and decide battles: :''Guðr ok Róta ok norn in yngsta, er Skuld heitir, ríða jafnan at kjósa val ok ráða vígum.''

References

{{Reflist Valkyries