''Svipdagsmál'' (

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 Svipdagr') is an

poem, sometimes included in modern editions 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 ...

'', comprising two poems, '' The Spell of Gróa'' and '' The Lay of Fjölsviðr''. The two works are grouped since they have a common narrator,

Svipdagr Svipdagr (Old Norse: "sudden day"Orchard (1997:157).) is the hero of the two Old Norse Eddaic poems Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál, which are contained within the body of one work; Svipdagsmál. Plot Svipdagr is set a task by his stepmother, ...

. Moreover, they would appear to have a common origin since they are closely similar in use of language, structure, style and metre (

ljóðaháttr In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of ...

). These two poems are found in several 17th-century paper manuscripts. In at least three of these manuscripts, the poems are in reverse order and separated by a third Eddic poem titled '' Hyndluljóð''.McKinnell (2005:202). For a long time, the connection between the two poems was not realized, until in 1854

Svend Grundtvig Svend Hersleb Grundtvig (9 September 1824, Copenhagen – 14 July 1883, Frederiksberg) was a Danish literary historian and ethnographer. He was one of the first systematic collectors of Danish traditional music, and he was especially interested ...

pointed out a connection between the story told in ''Grógaldr'' and the first part of the medieval Scandinavian ballad of ''Ungen Sveidal''/''Herr Svedendal''/''Hertig Silfverdal'' (

TSB Banking A trustee savings bank is a type of financial institution. * In the United Kingdom: ** Trustee Savings Bank, a bank in the United Kingdom that merged with Lloyds Bank in 1995 to form Lloyds TSB until 2013 ** Lloyds TSB, the name used by ...

A 45,

DgF ''Danmarks gamle Folkeviser'' is a collection of (in principle) all known texts and recordings of the old Danish popular ballads. It drew both on early modern manuscripts, such as Karen Brahes Folio, and much more recent folk-song collecting activi ...

70, SMB 18, NMB 22). Then in 1856,

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 ...

noticed that the last part of the ballad corresponded to ''Fjölsvinnsmál''. Bugge wrote about this connection in ''Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-Selskabet i Christiania'' 1860, calling the two poems together ''Svipdagsmál''. Subsequent scholars have accepted this title.Sveinsson (1975).

Poems

''Grógaldr''

In the first poem, the young Svipdagr has been compelled to come to Menglöð by his cruel stepmother. To accomplish this seemingly impossible task, he summons the shade of his mother,

Gróa In Norse mythology, Gróa (possibly from Old Norse "growing"Orchard (1997:63).) is a völva (seeress) and practitioner of ''seiðr''. She is the wife of Aurvandil the Bold. Attestations ''Prose Edda'' Gróa appears in the ''Prose Edda'' book ...

, a

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 ...

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

, to aid him in this task. She casts nine spells (a significant number in Norse mythology).

''Fjölsvinnsmál''

In the second poem, Svipdag, having survived the rigours of the journey, is confronted by the eponymous giant watchman, Fjölsviðr. Fjölsviðr is one of the names of the principal of the gods of

Asgard In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr'' ; "enclosure of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in a multitude of Old Norse sagas and mythological texts. It is described as the fortified home of the Æsir ...

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

. Fjölsviðr tells him to go away, while asking him his name; Svipdagr wisely conceals his name. A game consisting of question and answer riddles ensues, wherein Svipdagr learns that Menglöð lives in the castle guarded by the Fjölsviðr, and that the castle may not be entered by any save one: Svipdagr. He gives his true name and the gates are opened and Menglöð greets her saviour.

Theories

To date, scholarship has reached no consensus on the meaning of the poems, producing a number of competing theories.

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of th ...

(1835) identified Menglöð (Old Norse "the one who takes pleasure in jewels"Simek (2007:211).) with

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 ...

Viktor Rydberg Abraham Viktor Rydberg (; 18 December 182821 September 1895) was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877–1895. "Primarily a classical idealist", Viktor Rydberg has been described as "Sweden's last Romantic" and by 1859 was ...

(1889) identified Svipdagr as Freyja's husband Óðr, Menglöð herself as Freyja, and Fjölsviðr representing Odin. Hjalmar Falk (1893) is inclined to see the influence of

Grail The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

-poems.Falk (1893). Jan de Vries (1941) concluded that the author had formed an Eddic poem out of a fairy story of an enchanted princess and her lover, through borrowing and invention.

Otto Höfler Otto Eduard Gotfried Ernst Höfler (10 May 1901 – 25 August 1987) was an Austrian philologist who specialized in Germanic studies. A student of Rudolf Much, Höfler was Professor and Chair of German Language and Old German Literature at the Uni ...

(1952) and F.R. Schröder (1966) discerned elements of the myth and ritual which treat the reawakening of the earth beneath the rays of the sun each spring.

Einar Ólafur Sveinsson Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, often abbreviated Einar Ól. Sveinsson (12 December 1899 – 18 April 1984) was an Icelandic scholar of Old Norse literature who was Professor of Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland. His writings on and ed ...

(1975) suggests that the substance of the poem comes from the Irish legend of Art mac Cuinn.

Lotte Motz Lotte Motz, born Lotte Edlis (August 16, 1922 – December 24, 1997) was an Austrian-American scholar, obtaining a Ph.D. in German and philology, who published four books and many scholarly papers, primarily in the fields of Germanic mythology a ...

(1975) argues that the poem represents the

initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

of a young hero into a

mother-goddess A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be ...

cult, identifying Svipdagr's mother Gróa with his lover, Menglöð, based primarily on a limited interpretation of the word ''mögr'' in ''Fjölsvinnsmál'' 47. More recently, John McKinnell (2005) has stated: "There is no need to identify Menglöð with Gróa, and the attempt to see Gróa’s spells as an initiatory ritual distorts the obvious meaning of several of them."

Notes

Bibliography

* Hjalmar Falk, Falk, Hjalmar (1893).
Om Svipdagsmål
. '' Arkiv för nordisk filologi'': 311–362. Lund: Berlingska Boktryckeri. * McKinnell, John (2005). ''Meeting the Other in Old Norse Myth and Legend''. D.S. Brewer * * Rydberg, Viktor (1889) translated by

Rasmus B. Anderson Rasmus Bjørn Anderson (January 12, 1846 – March 2, 1936) was an American author, professor, editor, businessman and diplomat. He brought to popular attention the fact that Viking explorers were the first Europeans to arrive in the New World ...

. ''Teutonic Mythology''. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer *

(1975). "Svipdag's Long Journey: Some Observations on Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál". ''Hereditas'': 298–319. Ed. Bo Almqvist et al. Dublin: Folklore of Ireland Society.

External links

Jörmungrund: Svipdagsmál
(Old Norse text with English translation.)

illustrations from Victorian and Edwardian retellings of Svipdagsmál. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it. {{DEFAULTSORT:Svipdagsmal Sources of Norse mythology Eddic poetry