Hár (also Hávi;

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 ...

: 'High') and Hárr (

: prob. 'One-eyed') are among the many

names of Odin Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is a widely attested god in Germanic mythology. The god is referred to by numerous names and kenningar, particularly in the Old Norse record. List In Old English, Odin was known as ; in Old Saxon, as ; and in Old High ...

. 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 ...

depicts Hár ('High') in particular as one of the figures in the legendary trio (alongside

Jafnhárr Jafnharr ( non, Jafnhárr , "Equally High" or "Just-as-high") is a member of the "Mysterious Three," those who guard Valhalla in Norse Mythology. These three appear in ''Gylfaginning'' in the ''Prose Edda''. They sat on three thrones in Asgard whe ...

'Equally-High' and

Þriði In Norse mythology, Þriði ("Third"), anglicized as Thridi, is either one of the many names of Odin given in '' Grimnismal'' (46) or the name of one of the three characters (along with Hárr and Jafnhárr) questioned by king Gylfi in Snorri St ...

'Third') that answers the questions asked by Gangleri.

Name

The name ''Hár'' means 'High' or 'High One' in

/ Icelandic; it stems from an earlier

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a ...

form ''*hauhaʀ''. In the

eddic poem 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 med ...

Hávamál ''Hávamál'' ( ; Old Norse: ,Unnormalised spelling in the :Title: Final stanza: ../ref> classical pron. , Modern Icelandic pron. , ‘Words of he High One��) is presented as a single poem in the Icelandic , a collection of Old Norse poems fr ...

'' (Songs of Hávi), Odin adopts the name ''Hávi'' as a variant of ''Hár''. According to the catalogue 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 ...

'' ('Prophecy of 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 ...

'), ''Hár'' is also the name of a dwarf. The origin of the name ''Hárr'' remains unclear.; A number of scholars, including Jan de Vries, E. O. G. Turville-Petre and

Vladimir Orel Vladimir Emmanuilovich Orël (russian: Владимир Эммануилович Орëл; 9 February 1952 – 5 August 2007) was a Russian linguist and etymologist. Biography At the Moscow State University he studied theoretical linguistics ( ...

, have proposed to translate it as 'One-eyed'. The word may derive from a

form reconstructed as ''*Haiha-hariʀ'' ('the One-eyed Hero'), itself a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

formed with the

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 ...

word ''*haihaz'' ('one-eyed'; cf.

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

''haihs'' 'one-eyed').; ; ; A

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

origin is also suggested by the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''caecus'' ('blind') and the

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

''caech'' ('one-eyed'), with regular Germanic sound shift ''*k-'' > ''*h''-. Alternatively, ''Hárr'' has been interpreted as meaning 'the hoary one', 'with grey hair and beard', or else as an adjectival form of the

lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken ...

''Hár'' ('High One').

Attestations

In ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...

'' (The Beguiling of Gylfi), the king

Gylfi In Norse mythology, Gylfi (Old Norse: ), ''Gylfe'', ''Gylvi'', or ''Gylve'' was the earliest recorded king in Scandinavia. He often uses the name Gangleri when appearing in disguise. The traditions on Gylfi deal with how he was tricked by the god ...

, assuming the form of an old man named Gangleri, comes to visit the place of the gods Ásgard. But the

Æsir The Æsir (Old Norse: ) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Baldr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each other, res ...

(gods), who have foreseen his journey, prepare a visual delusion where Gylfi thinks he arrives at a great hall where he meets the chieftains Hár ('High'),

('Equally-high'), and

('Third'). Then Gangleri asks the three men a series of questions about the identity of gods or the creation of the cosmos. The answers are usually given by Hár with occasional amplification by Jafnhárr or Þriði. Finally, Gangleri asks about Ragnarök and its aftermath, then he hears a crash and the hall disappears. A variant of Hár, ''Hávi'', appears in the poem ''

'' ('Words of Hávi he High One) as the

name of Odin Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is a widely attested god in Germanic mythology. The god is referred to by numerous names and kenningar, particularly in the Old Norse record. List In Old English, Odin was known as ; in Old Saxon, as ; and in Old High ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Cite book, last=Turville-Petre, first=Gabriel, title=Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia, date=1964, publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston, isbn=978-0837174204, edition=1975, language=en, author-link=Gabriel Turville-Petre Characters in Norse mythology Names of Odin

Name

Attestations

See also

References

Bibliography