Óðrerir
In Norse mythology, Óðrerir, Óðrørir or Óðrœrir refers either to one of the three vessels that contain the mead of poetry (along with Boðn and Són) or to the mead itself.
Attestations
Poetic Edda
Óðrerir is mentioned in two ambiguous passages of the Hávamál. In a first stanza (107), it is sometimes assumed that Óðrerir is synonymous with mead of poetry,[1] but both interpretations are possible.
- Of a well-assumed form
- I made good use:
- few things fail the wise;
- for Odhrærir
- is now come up
- to men’s earthly dwellings
-
- —Hávamál (107), Thorpe's translation
In another stanza (140), the meaning of Óðrerir depends on the translation.
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In most translations, Óðrerir seems to refer to a vessel, but other interpretations of ausinn Óðreri are possible,[2] which can lead to understand Óðrerir to be the mead itself.
Prose Edda
For Snorri Sturluson, Óðrerir is the name of the kettle in which Kvasir's blood was mixed with honey to create the mead:
- [Kvasir] went up and down the earth to give instruction to men; and when he came upon invitation to the abode of certain dwarves, Fjalar and Galarr, they called him into privy converse with them, and killed him, letting his blood run into two vats and a kettle. The kettle is named Ódrerir, and the vats Són and Bodn; they blended honey with the blood, and the outcome was that mead by the virtue of which he who drinks becomes a skald or scholar.
Similarly, Snorri considers that "liquid of Óðrerir and Boðn and Són" (lögr Óðreris ok Boðnar ok Sónar) is a kenning for the mead of poetry (Skáldskaparmál, 3).
But in
Notes
References
- Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916. Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Faulkes, Anthony (ed.). 1998. Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Skáldskaparmál. Vol. 2, Glossary and Index of Names. London: Viking Society for Northern Research. ISBN 0-903521-38-5.
- Guðni Jónsson (ed.). 1949. Eddukvæði: Sæmundar-Edda. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan.
- ISBN 0-19-515382-0.
- ISBN 0-85991-513-1.
- Thorpe, Benjamin (trans.). 1866. Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned. London: Trübner & Co.