''Hyndluljóð'' (

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 ...

: 'The Lay of Hyndla') is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic me ...

''. It is preserved in its entirety only in ''

Flateyjarbók ''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey") is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and produced by the priests and scribes ...

'', but some stanzas are also quoted 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 ...

'', where they are said to come from ''

Völuspá hin skamma ''Völuspá hin skamma'' (Old Norse: 'The Short Völuspá) is an Old Norse poem which survives as a handful of stanzas in ''Hyndluljóð'', in the ''Poetic Edda'', and as one stanza in the ''Gylfaginning'' section of Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda ...

''. __NOTOC__ ''Hyndluljóð'' is believed to be a relatively late Eddic poem, dating to the second half of the 12th century or later, although including much older traditions, such as that of the 4th c. Gothic king

Ermanaric Ermanaric; la, Ermanaricus or ''Hermanaricus''; ang, Eormanrīc ; on, Jǫrmunrekkr , gmh, Ermenrîch (died 376) was a Greuthungian Gothic king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythia ...

. In the poem, the goddess

Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...

meets the

völva In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer", "wise woman" and "sorceress", and they are f ...

Hyndla and they ride together towards

Valhalla In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...

. Freyja rides on her boar

Hildisvíni Hildisvíni (Old Norse: , “battle swine”) is Freyja's boar In Norse mythology. The story of Hildisvíni appears in Hyndluljóð, an Old Norse poem found in Flateyjarbok but often considered a part of the Poetic Edda. In the poem, Freyja is ...

and Hyndla on a wolf. Their mission is to find out the

pedigree Pedigree may refer to: Breeding * Pedigree chart, a document to record ancestry, used by genealogists in study of human family lines, and in selective breeding of other animals ** Pedigree, a human genealogy (ancestry chart) ** Pedigree (animal ...

of Óttarr so that he can touch his inheritance, and the lay consists mostly of Hyndla reciting a number of names from Óttarr's ancestry. Because of the reference in the ''Prose Edda'' to ''Völuspá hin skamma'', since

Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runic ...

's first edition of the Eddic poems, stanzas 29–44 of ''Hyndluljóð'' as it appears in the manuscript have usually been excerpted as a separate poem under that title. Refrains have led to the suggestion that they were alternative names for the same poem. (citing R. C. Boer and

Gro Steinsland Gro Steinsland (born 1945) is a Norwegian scholar of medieval studies and history of religion and since August 2009 has been the Scientific Director of the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Steinsland has m ...

)

References

Notes

Bibliography

English translations

Hyndluljoth
Translation and commentary by Henry Adams Bellows
Hyndluljóð
Translation by

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

and P. B. Taylor

Old Norse editions

Hyndluljóð

's edition of the manuscript text
Hyndluljóð

Guðni Jónsson Guðni Jónsson (22 July 1901 – 4 March 1974) was an Icelandic professor of history and editor of Old Norse texts. Life and career Guðni was born at Gamla-Hraun at EyrarbakkiPáll Lýðsson"GUÐNI JÓNSSON" Minningargreinar, ''Morgunblaði ...

's edition with normalized spelling

External links

*
MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image repository)
illustrations from Victorian and Edwardian retellings of Hyndluljóð. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyndluljod 12th-century poems Eddic poetry Freyja Sources of Norse mythology Flateyjarbók