Hrímnir (

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 ...

: ) is a jǫtunn 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 ...

. He is the father of Hljód.

Name

The

name ''Hrímnir'' has been translated as 'frosty', 'the one covered with hoarfrost', or 'the sooty one.' Probably intended to evoke the frost giants or ''hrímþursar'' (jǫtunn).Quinn, p. 134.

Attestations

In the ''

Völsunga saga The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story ...

'', Hrímnir is mentioned as the father of Hljóð, who is sent by

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wetl ...

as a "wish-maid" to

Rerir In ''Völsunga saga'', Rerir, the son of Sigi, succeeds his murdered father and avenges his death. He rules in Hunaland and becomes a powerful ruler. Rerir's son is Völsung. Rerir and his wife were unable to have children until the goddess F ...

with the apple of fertility that will provide his wife offspring. Hrímnir himself sends his daughter Hljóð to be the wife of one of the children,

Völsung Völsung ( , ) is a figure in Germanic mythology, where he is the eponymous ancestor of the Völsung family (, ), which includes the hero Sigurð. In Nordic mythology, he is the son of Rerir and was murdered by the Geatish king Siggeir. He was ...

. Hrímnir is listed among the jǫtnar in the ''þulur'' section of 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 ...

''.Siân Duke, "''

Kristni saga ''Kristni saga'' (; ; "the book of Christianity") is an Old Norse account of the Christianization of Iceland in the 10th century and of some later church history. It was probably written in the early or mid-13th century, as it is dependent on the L ...

'' and its Sources: Some Revaluations," ''Saga-Book'' 25 (2001
345–450
p. 396 (pdf). In ''

Hyndluljóð ''Hyndluljóð'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Hyndla') is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in its entirety only in ''Flateyjarbók'', but some stanzas are also quoted in the ''Prose Edda'', where they ...

'' (32), Hrímnir is the father of

Heiðr Heiðr (also rendered Heid, Hed, Heith, Hetha etc, from the Old Norse adjective meaning "bright" or the noun meaning "honour") is a Norse female personal name. Several individuals by the name appear in Norse mythology and history. A seeress A se ...

and Hrossþjófr, but that may be just for the purpose of

alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...

. He is also mentioned in ''

Skírnismál ''Skírnismál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Skírnir', but in the Codex Regius known as ''Fǫr Skírnis'' ‘Skírnir’s journey’) is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the 13th-century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM ...

'' (28), probably as a typical

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 ...

.Judy Quinn, "The Realisation of Mythological Design: The Early Generations of the Völsung Dynasty," in In ''

Gríms saga loðinkinna ''Gríms saga loðinkinna'', or ''The Saga of Grim Shaggy-Cheek'' is one of the legendary sagas. It is from the 14th century and takes place in eighth-century Norway. It is one of the sagas called the ''Hrafnistumannasögur'' surrounding Ketill Hæ ...

'', Hrímnir is the father of the giantesses Feima and Kleima; his wife's name is Hyrja. interprets this episode as an imitation of one in the ''

Örvar-Oddr Örvar-Oddr ( , "Arrow-Odd" or "Arrow's Point") is a legendary hero about whom an anonymous Icelander wrote a '' fornaldarsaga'' in the latter part of the 13th century. ''Örvar-Odds saga'', the Saga of Örvar-Odd, became very popular and contain ...

saga''.

Theories

Scholars have argued that the story of Hrímnir in the ''

'' resembles that of

Peredur Peredur (, Old Welsh ''Peretur'') is the name of a number of men from the boundaries of history and legend in sub-Roman Britain. The Peredur who is most familiar to a modern audience is the character who made his entrance as a knight in the Ar ...

in the

Matter of Britain The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the list of legendary kings of Britain, legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Art ...

, and the modern

folktale Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...

The Sea-Maiden The Sea-Maiden () is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in ''Popular Tales of the West Highlands'', listing his informant as John Mackenzie, fisherman, near Inverary. Joseph Jacobs included it in ''Celtic Fairy Tales''. T ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hrimnir Jötnar