Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

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the boat disappeared, still the mythologists have not had the heart to take the boat away from Bergelmir. On the contrary, they have allowed the boat to grow into a ship, an ark. As already pointed out, Vafþrúðnismál tells us expressly that Bergelmir, Aurgelmir's grandson, was "laid on a mill" or "on the supporting timbers of a mill." We may be sure that the myth would not have laid Bergelmir on "a mill" if the intention was not that he was to be ground. The kind of meal thus produced has already been explained. It is the mould and sand which the sea since time's earliest dawn has cast upon the shores of Midgard, and with which the bays and strands have been filled, to become sooner or later green fields. From Ymir's flesh the gods created the oldest layer of soil, that which covered the earth the first time the sun shone thereon, and in which the first herbs grew. Ever since the same activity which then took place still continues. After the great mill of the gods transformed the oldest frost-giant into the dust of earth, it has continued to grind the bodies of his descendants between the same stones into the same kind of mould. This is the meaning of Vafþrúðnir's words when he says that his memory reaches back to the time when Bergelmir was laid on the mill to be ground. Ymir he does not remember, nor Þrúðgelmir, nor the days when these were changed to earth. Of them he knows only by hearsay. But he remembers when the turn came for Bergelmir's limbs to be subjected to the same fate. "The glorious Midgard" could not be created before its foundations raised by the gods out of the sea were changed to bjóð (Völuspá). This is the word (originally bjóðr) with which the author of Völuspá chose to express the quality of the fields and the fields themselves, which were raised out of the sea by Bor's sons, when the great mill had changed the "flesh" of Ymir into mould. Bjóð does not mean a bare field or ground, but one that can supply food. Thus it is used in Haustlöng 5 (af breiðu bjóði, the place for a spread feast), and its other meanings (perhaps the more original ones) are that of a board and of a table for food to lie on. When the fields were raised out of Ymir's blood they were covered with mould, so that, when they got light and warmth from the sun, then the grund became gróin grænum lauki. The very word mould comes from the Germanic word mala, to grind (cp. Eng. meal, Latin molere). The development of language and the development of mythology have here, as in so many other instances, gone hand in hand. 11 That the "flesh" of the primeval giants could be ground into fertile mould refers us to the primeval cow Auðhumbla by whose milk Ymir was nourished and his flesh formed (Gylfaginning). Thus the cow in the Germanic mythology is the same as she is in the Iranian, the primeval source of fertility. The mould, out of which the harvests grow, has by transformations developed out of her nourishing liquids. Here, then, we have the explanation of the liðmeldur which the great mill grinds, according to Snæbjörn. Liðmeldur means limb-grist. It is the limbs and joints of the primeval giants, which on Amlodi's mill are transformed into meal. 11 Here Rydberg makes an unnecessary digression, confusing two etymologically unrelated words, "bjóð" (singular, "table") and "bjöð" (plural, "lands, earth").
In its character as an institution for the promotion of fertility, and for rendering the fields fit for habitation, the mill is under the care and protection of the Vanir. After Njörd's son, Frey, had been fostered in Asgard and had acquired the dignity of lord of the harvests, he was the one who became the master of the great Grotti. It is attended on his behalf by one of his servants, who in the mythology is called Byggvir, a name related both to byggja, settle, cultivate, and to bygg, barley, a kind of grain, and by his kinswoman and helpmate Beyla. So important is the calling of Byggvir and Beyla that they are permitted to attend the feasts of the gods with their master (Frey). Consequently they are present at the banquet to which Ægir, according to Lokasenna, invited the gods. When Loki uninvited made his appearance there to mix harm in the mead of the gods, and to embitter their pleasure, and when he there taunts Frey, Byggvir becomes wroth on his master's behalf and says: (43) Byggvir kvað: Veiztu, ef eg eðli ættag sem Ingunar-Freyr og svo sællegt setur, mergi smærra mylda eg þá meinkráku og lemda alla í liðu. (44) Loki kvað: Hvað er það ið litla er eg það löggra sék og snapvíst snapir? Að eyrum Freys muntu æ vera og und kvernum klaka. (45) Byggvir kvað: Byggvir eg heiti, en mig bráðan kveða goð öll og gumar; því em eg hér hróðugur, að drekka Hropts megir allir öl saman. (46) Loki kvað: Þegi þú, Byggvir! þú kunnir aldregi deila með mönnum mat. Byggvir spoke: Had I the ancestry of Ingunar-Frey and so honored a seat, know I would grind you finer than marrow, you evil crow, and crush you limb by limb. Loki spoke: What little boy is that whom I see wagging his tail and eat like a parasite? Near Frey's ears you will ever be clattering 'neath the mill-stones. Byggvir spoke: Byggvir is my name, all gods and men call me nimble; and here it is my pride that Odin's sons drink ale all together. Loki spoke: Be silent, Byggvir! never were you able to divide food among men.
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Undersökningar i Germanisk Mytolog
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myth, we shall discover an Erik who
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y a sacred order unlawful for the f
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there, the woman brought him to a p
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That these last ideas have been inf
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The river which is mentioned in Eri
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egg and the egg-shell." Also the ro
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conscious cunning. Nevertheless, he
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51 GUDMUND'S IDENTITY WITH MIMIR. T
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egins. They have explained Mimir's
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elapse into the faults of the forme
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and Leifthrasir were still remember
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the ásmegir demands that he must h
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immortality. In the Germanic mythol
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In the Norse sagas of the Middle Ag
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journey around the world. From a my
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There can be no doubt that "the ás
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Hakon's men are designated in the s
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which calls them ásliðar, a word
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youth of fifteen years. The evil cr
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square, to be an abode for men; an
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there comes a great conflagration a
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carried his prey to Nastrond (Völu
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In regard to the position of Yggdra
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giants, Niflhel, Niflheim, extends
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6. Under the third (subterranean) r
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Hades, the middle condition, and th
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2. Reið hann niður þaðan Niflhe
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In Grímnismál, the word Hel occur
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first cross a river and then come t
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creative force, over which the "ove
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oaths to serve the gods. Their chie
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Tamsvendi eg þig drep, en eg þig
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appellation suggests, and receive t
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Gerd, who tries to reject the love
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One of the signs that Ragnarok and
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conqueror in hundreds of battles, t
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While a terrible winter is raging,
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dead) beings called ásmegir and á
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in the dialects of several Germanic
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As maid-servants under Urd, there a
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30; Grímnismál 36; Skáldskaparm
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final destiny received Hel-shoes li
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on horseback, with wisdom in their
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THE CHOOSING. THE MIDDLE-AGE FABLE
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67. THE PSYCHOPOMPS OF THOSE NOT FA
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In our mythical records there is me
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Page 99 and 100: The Aesir go to the thingstead near
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Page 127 and 128: is also Saxo's statement, that the
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Page 133 and 134: Codex Regius (36) A fellr austan vm
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Page 185 and 186: The names, epithets, and paraphrase
Page 187 and 188: former. The name mjötviður, with
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him they have called Svithiod geiri
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nourish the roots of the world-tree
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Some monosyllabic names ending in -
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out there. We must therefore choose
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wind-ship" (ausa Hertýs víngnóð
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mythology rescued in Germany, the s
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weapons of his foes. Surrounded by
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The misfortune which happened first
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atmosphere, and as we have also lea
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get light on this point. According
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Ægir's hall is far out in the dept
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which once was his, after the arch
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In the strophe immediately precedin
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form given above it appears through
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the Frisians pursued by the plunder
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that is to say, that they are the s
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hiti við himin sjálfan -- "high l
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Syrian" who had interpreted the sto
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The anthropological conception pres
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mælsku þína og meginhyggjur. you
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serpent-symbol of eternity, the liq
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spirit, and on the other hand by th
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covering of a personal kernel (óð
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Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

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