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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, Verðandi (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

, meaning possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).), sometimes anglicized as Verdandi or Verthandi, is one of the

norns The Norns ( , plural: ) are a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.''Nordisk familjebok'' (1907) The Norns are often represented as three goddesses known as Urd ( Urðr), Verðandi, and S ...

. Along with Urðr (

"fate"Orchard (1997:169).) and Skuld (possibly "debt" or "future"Orchard (1997:151).), Verðandi makes up a trio of Norns that are described as deciding the fates (

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 ...

) of people.

Etymology

''Verðandi'' is literally the present participle of the

verb "''verða''", "to become", and is commonly translated as "in the making" or "that which is happening/becoming"; it is related to the Dutch word ''worden'' and the German word ''werden'', both meaning "to become". "Werdend" is not a commonly used German word in modern times, but intutitively means the things that "are becoming", as -nd is the gerund form.

Attestation

''Völuspá''

She appears in the following verse from the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

'' poem ''

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

'', along with Urðr and Skuld:

Notes

References

* Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell. {{Time in religion and mythology Norns Female supernatural figures in Norse mythology Textiles in folklore Time and fate goddesses Gýgjar