''Hymiskviða'' (Old Norse: 'The lay of Hymir';

anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as ''Hymiskvitha'', ''Hymiskvidha'' or ''Hymiskvida'') is a poem collected in 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 ...

''. The poem was first written down in the late 13th century.''Norse Mythology A-Z''

Summary

The

Æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...

consult their augury twigs and decide, since Ægir owns a lot of kettles for making beer, that he should be their host frequently. Ægir has to reluctantly agree, but as this will be a lot of work, he makes a condition (that he hopes they won't be able to meet) that they bring a kettle large enough for him to make beer for all of them at once. That presents a problem, until

Týr (; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology and member of the . In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his right hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off ...

remembers a particularly large kettle in the possession of his father Hymir. So the Æsir set off. Eventually they find Hymir's place, where Þórr (Thor) eats so much that Hymir and his guests have no alternative but to go fishing. The poem then tells the story of how Þórr almost caught the

Jörmungandr In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (, see Etymology), also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent (, "worm of Midgard"), is an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth ( Midga ...

, which is also recounted 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 ...

. Þórr shows off his strength, but Hymir taunts him and says that he could hardly be called strong if Þórr couldn't break Hymir's chalice. The chalice was a magic one and could not be broken unless slung against Hymir's head. Þórr is eventually told so and proceeds to do it. Hymir is annoyed but says that they can take the kettle and leave. There follows the slaying of hordes of jötnar, whereupon the Æsir leave with the kettle and booze contentedly at Ægir's place ever after (or at least until Lokasenna). The poem contains fragments of a number of myths, and it shows. There is little structure to it, and scenes follow each other in a very rough logical order. Some of the allusions are not known from other sources and it contains unusually many

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

s for an Eddic poem.

Comparative mythology

Similarities between the ''Hymiskviða'' and the Indian ''Samudra manthan'' have been pointed out by Georges Dumézil and others; see .

References

Bibliography

External links

Hymiskviða
English translation by

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Old English language, Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated hi ...

Hymiskviða
A critical edition and translation by Eysteinn Björnsson, including text of both manuscripts

Translation and commentary by Henry Adams Bellows {{DEFAULTSORT:Hymiskvida Eddic poetry