[4] sköp norna ‘the decree of the norns’: The same expression occurs in Hfr 10/4V (Hallfr 13); cf. de Vries (1964-7, II, 40 n. 68). The norns are the supernatural female beings described in Gylf (SnE 2005, 18), where they are said to ‘shape men’s lives’ (skapa mǫnnum aldr). For a questioning of the extent to which the norns were believed to spin or weave the fates of men, like the three Fates of Greek mythology, see Bek-Pedersen (2007; 2011).
References
- Bibliography
- Vries, Jan de. 1964-7. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. 2nd edn. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 15-16. Berlin: de Gruyter.
- SnE 2005 = Snorri Sturluson. 2005. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2nd edn. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
- Bek-Pedersen, Karen. 2007. ‘Are the Spinning nornir Just a Yarn?’. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 3, 1-10.
- 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 24 April 2024)
- Diana Whaley (ed.) 2022, ‘Hallfreðar saga 13 (Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Lausavísur 10)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 889.