Auðumbla
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In
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 ...
, Auðumbla (; also Auðhumla and Auðumla ) is a primeval
cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...
. The primordial frost
jötunn A (also jotun; plural ; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; or, in Old English, , plural ) is a type of being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, are often contrasted with gods (the Æsir and Vanir) and with other no ...
Ymir In Norse mythology, Ymir (), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writte ...
fed upon her milk, and over the course of three days she licked away the salty rime rocks and revealed
Búri In Norse mythology, Búri (Old Norse: ) is a divinity god 'producer, father' of all other gods,Simek (Simek 2007:47). and an early ancestor of the Æsir gods of the principal pantheon in Old Norse religion. Búri was licked free from salty rime st ...
, grandfather of the gods and brothers
Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
,
Vili and Vé In Norse mythology, Vili ( ; Old Norse: ) and Vé ( ; O.N.: ) are the brothers of the god Odin (from Old Norse ''Óðinn''), sons of Bestla, daughter of Bölþorn; and Borr, son of Búri. Name The Old Norse theonym ''Vé'' (or ''Véi'') is ...
. The creature is attested solely in the ''
Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...
'', composed in the 13th century by Icelander
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
. Scholars identify her as stemming from a very early stratum of
Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon paganism#Mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. O ...
, and ultimately belonging to larger complex of primordial bovines or cow-associated goddesses.


Name

The cow's name variously appears in ''
Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...
'' manuscripts as , , and , and is generally accepted as meaning 'hornless cow rich in milk' (from
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 ...
'riches' and 'hornless').See discussion in both Lindow 2001:63 and Simek 2007:22. The compound presents some level of
semantic ambiguity In linguistics, an expression is semantically ambiguous when it can have multiple meanings. The higher the number of synonyms a word has, the higher the degree of ambiguity. Like other kinds of ambiguity, semantic ambiguities are often clarified by ...
. A parallel occurs in
Scottish English Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined ...
''humble-cow'' 'hornless cow', and Northern Europeans have bred hornless cows since prehistoric times. As highlighted above, may mean 'rich' and in turn 'rich hornless cow' remains generally accepted among scholars as a gloss of the Old Icelandic animal name. However, can also mean 'fate' and 'desolate; desert', and so may also have been understood as the 'destroyer of the desert'. This semantic ambiguity may have been intentional.Liberman (2016:347–352).


Attestations

Auðumbla's sole attested narrative occurs in the ''
Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...
'' section of the ''Prose Edda'', and her name appears among ways to refer to cows later in the ''
Nafnaþulur ''Nafnaþulur'' (Old Norse: ) is a subsection of the ''Prose Edda'', the last part of the ''Skáldskaparmál''. It is a listing in verse of names that may be used in poetry for various items, such as gods A deity or god is a supernatural bei ...
'' section of the book. In ''Gylfaginning'', Gangleri (described earlier in ''Gylfaginning'' as king
Gylfi In Norse mythology, Gylfi (Old Norse: ), ''Gylfe'', ''Gylvi'', or ''Gylve'' was the earliest recorded king of Sviþjoð, Sweden, in Scandinavia. He is known by the name Gangleri when appearing in disguise. The Danish tradition on Gylfi tells how ...
in disguise) asks where, in the distant past, Ymir lived and what he ate.
High High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...
says that the cow Auðumbla's teats produced four rivers of milk, from which Ymir fed. Gylfi asks what Auðumbla ate, and High says that she licked salty rime stones for sustenance. He recounts that Auðumbla once licked salts for three days, revealing
Búri In Norse mythology, Búri (Old Norse: ) is a divinity god 'producer, father' of all other gods,Simek (Simek 2007:47). and an early ancestor of the Æsir gods of the principal pantheon in Old Norse religion. Búri was licked free from salty rime st ...
: The first day she licked free his hair, the second day his head, and the third day his entire body.Faulkes (1995
987 Year 987 ( CMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two members of the military elite, begin a wi ...
11).
The second and final mention of Auðumbla occurs in the ''Nafnaþulur'', wherein the author provides a variety of ways to refer to cows. Auðumbla is the only cow mentioned by name, and the author adds that "she is the noblest of cows".Faulkes (1995
987 Year 987 ( CMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two members of the military elite, begin a wi ...
163).


Scholarly reception and interpretation

On the topic of Auðumbla,
John Lindow John Frederick Lindow (born July 23, 1946) is an American philologist who is Professor Emeritus of Old Norse and Folklore at University of California, Berkeley. He is a well known authority on Old Norse religion and literature. Biography John Lin ...
says that cows appear commonly in creation narratives around the world, yet "what is most striking about Audhumla is that she unites the two warring groups in the mythology, by nourishing Ymir, ancestor of all the giants, and bringing into the light Búri, progenitor of the æsir."Lindow (2001:63).
Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author ...
highlights that Roman senator
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
's first century CE work ethnography of the
Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...
''
Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...
'' mentions that they maintained hornless cattle (see ''name'' section above), and notes that the ''Germania'' relates how an image of the Germanic goddess
Nerthus In Germanic paganism, Nerthus is a goddess associated with a ceremonial wagon procession. Nerthus is attested by first century A.D. Roman historian Tacitus in his ethnographic work ''Germania''. In ''Germania'', Tacitus records that a group of G ...
was borne through the countryside in a wagon drawn by cattle. Simek compares the deity to a variety of cow-associated deities among non-Germanic peoples, such as the Egyptian goddess
Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...
(depicted as cow-headed) and
Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
(whose iconography contains references to cows), and the Ancient Greek
Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...
(described as 'the cow-eyed').Simek (2007: 22).


See also

* Amalthea, goat who raised
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
, who suckled on her breast milk, in Classical
Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
*
Bull of Heaven In ancient Mesopotamian mythology, the Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast fought by the King of Uruk Gilgamesh. The story of the Bull of Heaven is known from two different versions: one recorded in an earlier Sumerian poem and a later episode ...
, a celestial bull from
Sumerian mythology Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization found in recorded history and based in ancient Mesopotamia, and what is modern day Iraq. The Sumerians widely regarded their divinities as res ...
* El, creator bull deity in Canaanite mythology *
Gavaevodata Gavaevodata (') is the Avestan language name of the primordial bovine of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology, one of Ahura Mazda's six primordial material creations and the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life. T ...
, primordial cow in Zoroastrian mythology *
Heiðrún Heiðrún or Heidrun is a nanny goat in Norse mythology, that consumes the foliage of the tree Læraðr and produces mead from her udders for the einherjar. She is described in the ''Poetic Edda'' and ''Prose Edda''. Etymology The etymology ...
, a nanny goat in Norse mythology whose teats produce mead for the
Einherjar In Norse mythology, the einherjar (singular einheri; literally "army of one", "those who fight alone")Simek, Rudolf (1993). ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. Translated by Angela Hall. p. 71.Orchard (1997:36) and Lindow (2001:104). are those ...
*
Kamadhenu Kamadhenu (, , ), also known as Surabhi (, or , ), is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hinduism as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous cow of plenty who provides her owner whatever they desire and is often portrayed as the mother o ...
, cow from
Hindu mythology Hindu mythology refers to the collection of myths associated with Hinduism, derived from various Hindu texts and traditions. These myths are found in sacred texts such as the Vedas, the Itihasas (the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Ramayan ...
*
Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...
, cow goddess from
Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...
*
Mehet-Weret Mehet-Weret or Mehturt () is an ancient Egyptian deity of the sky in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name means "Great Flood". She was mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egyptian creation myths, she gives birth to the sun at the beginning ...
, celestial cow from Egyptian mythology


Notes and citations


References

* Faulkes, Anthony (1995
985 Year 985 ( CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Henry II (the Wrangler) is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theophanu and her mother-in-law Adelaide at an ...
. Trans. ''Edda''.
Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin and history The term ''everyman'' was used ...
. * Lindow, John (2001). ''Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs''.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. * Liberman, Anatoly (2016). ''In Prayer and Laughter. Essays on Medieval Scandinavian and Germanic Mythology, Literature, and Culture''. Paleograph Press. * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer.


External links


MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)
Illustrations of Auðhumbla from manuscripts and early print books. {{DEFAULTSORT:Audumbla Fictional characters introduced in the 13th century Animals in Norse mythology Mythological bovines Ymir Female legendary creatures