Þul Ásynja 2III/1 — Nanna ‘Nanna’
Hlín ok Nanna, Hnoss, Rindr ok Sjǫfn,
Sól ok Sága, Sigyn ok Vǫr;
þá es Vár, ok Syn verðr at nefna,
en Þrúðr ok Rán þeim næst talið.
Hlín ok Nanna, Hnoss, Rindr ok Sjǫfn, Sól ok Sága, Sigyn ok Vǫr; þá es Vár, ok verðr at nefna Syn, en Þrúðr ok Rán talið næst þeim.
Hlín and Nanna, Hnoss, Rindr and Sjǫfn, Sól and Sága, Sigyn and Vǫr; then there is Vár, and Syn must be named, and Þrúðr and Rán [are] listed next to them.
notes
[1] Nanna: In Old Norse sources, Nanna is Baldr’s wife and the daughter of Nepr (see Notes to Þul Ása I ll. 2, 3). She did not survive her husband and died from grief at his death (SnE 2005, 26, 46-7; SnE 1998, I, 1, 17, 30). In the other version of this myth related by Saxo (Saxo 2005, I, 3, 2, 2-9, pp. 190-7), Nanna is the wife of Hǫðr (see Note to Þul Ása I l. 10). Turville-Petre (1964, 115) argues that Nanna is the name of a valkyrie and, based on nǫnnor Herians ‘the Nǫnnur of Herjann <= Óðinn> [VALKYRIES]’ in Vsp 30/10 (NK 7), he maintains that the meaning of the name is probably ‘warlike’. However, the very structure of this poetic circumlocution in which Nanna (nǫnnur pl.) is the base-word in a kenning for ‘valkyrie’, speaks against that assumption. The origin of the name is uncertain. It is either a nursery word (cf. ModSwed. dialects nanna ‘mother’) or derived from the Germanic root *nanþ- (cf. ON nenna ‘strive’; AEW: Nanna).