Urðr (

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 ...

: fateOrchard (1997:169).) 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 ...

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 ...

. Along with Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).) and Skuld (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 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 ...

'' and 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 ...

'' book ''

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 ...

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

Urðarbrunnr Urðarbrunnr (Old Norse "Wellspring of Urðr"; either referring to a Germanic mythology, Germanic concept of fate—''wyrd, urðr''—or the norns, norn named UrðrSimek (2007:342).) is a Spring_(hydrology), spring or Water well, well in Norse my ...

beneath the world ash tree

Yggdrasil Yggdrasil () is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in t ...

Asgard In Nordic mythology, Asgard (Old Norse: ''Ásgarðr''; "Garden of the Æsir") is a location associated with the gods. It appears in several Old Norse sagas and mythological texts, including the Eddas, however it has also been suggested to be refe ...

. 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 , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

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" and "sorceress", and they are frequently calle ...

'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