Urðr (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

"fate"Orchard (1997:169).) is one of the Norns in Norse mythology. Along with

Verðandi In Norse mythology, Verðandi (Old Norse, meaning possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).), sometimes anglicized as Verdandi or Verthandi, is one of the norns. Along with Urðr (Old Norse "fate"Orchard (1997:169).) and Skuld (possib ...

(possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).) 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 ...

(possibly "debt" or "future"Orchard (1997:151).), Urðr makes up a trio of Norns that are described as deciding the fates of people. Urðr is attested in stanza 20 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 med ...

'' poem ''

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 ...

'' and 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 ...

'' book ''

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 ...

''. ''Urðr'' is together with the other Norns located at the well

Urðarbrunnr Urðarbrunnr (Old Norse "Well of Urðr"; either referring to a Germanic concept of fate—''urðr''—or the norn named UrðrSimek (2007:342).) is a well in Norse mythology. Urðarbrunnr is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th ...

beneath the world ash tree

Yggdrasil Yggdrasil (from Old Norse ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...

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 ...

. They spin threads of life, cut marks in the pole figures and measure people's destinies, which shows the fate of all human beings and gods. Norns are always present when a child is born and decide its fate. The three Norns represent the past (Urðr), future (Skuld) and present (Verðandi). ''Urðr'' is commonly written as Urd or Urth. In some English translations, her name is glossed with the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

form of ''urðr'';

Wyrd Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English '' weird'', whose meaning has drifted towards an adjectival use with a more general sense of "supernatural" or ...

Attestations

Poetic Edda

is said to stand "always over Urd's well", or the well of fate, Urd's well is located in

. Urd appears in 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 ...

's Prophecy ''

'':

References

Sources

* Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1923). ''The Poetic Edda''. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. * Orchard, Andy (1997) ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend'' (Orion Publishing Group) * Lindow, John (2001) ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs'' (Oxford University Press) * Steinsland, Gro (2005) ''Norrøn religion : myter, riter, samfunn'' (Oslo: Pax forlag) * Bugge, Sophus (2010) ''Norroen Fornkvaedi'' (Nabu Press) * Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). ''The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson''. Norrœna Society. Norns Female supernatural figures in Norse mythology Textiles in folklore Time and fate goddesses Gýgjar {{norse-myth-stub