[3] Ymir: The cosmic giant from whose flesh and blood the earth and the sea were created (Vsp 3/2; Grí 40-1; Gylf, SnE 2005, 11-12, etc.). Ymir is the mythical ancestor of the giants (Vafþr 28/5), and his name therefore comes first in the list. The name may be related to Lat. geminus ‘twin’ (AEW: Ymir; Dronke 1997, 111), but popular etymology relates it to the root of ymr m. ‘humming sound’ and the weak verb ymja ‘whine, cry’ (Finnur Jónsson 1934-5, 298). Cf. the frequently used ‘noise-maker’-pattern in giant-names, e.g. Hrungnir (l. 5), Herkir (st. 2/3), Þrymr (st. 2/7), as well as the other name for Ymir, Aurgelmir (st. 5/5). The name Ymir is used in kennings (LP: Ymir 1; see also ymir ‘clamourer’, Þul Hauks 2/1).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Dronke, Ursula, ed. and trans. 1997. The Poetic Edda. II: Mythological Poems. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Finnur Jónsson. 1934-5. ‘Þulur: Søkonge- og jættenavneremserne’. APS 9, 289-308.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=113> (accessed 2 June 2024)
- Elena Gurevich (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Þulur, Hauks heiti 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 943.
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