Ask and Embla
In
Etymology
Old Norse askr literally means "ash tree" but the etymology of embla is uncertain, and two possibilities of the meaning of embla are generally proposed. The first meaning, "elm tree", is problematic[clarification needed], and is reached by deriving *Elm-la from *Almilōn and subsequently to almr ('elm').[1] The second suggestion is "vine", which is reached through *Ambilō, which may be related to the Greek term ἄμπελος (ámpelos), itself meaning "vine, liana".[1] The latter etymology has resulted in a number of theories.
According to
Attestations
In stanza 17 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, the seeress reciting the poem states that Hœnir, Lóðurr and Odin once found Ask and Embla on land. The seeress says that the two were capable of very little, lacking in ørlög and says that they were given three gifts by the three gods:
- Old Norse:
- Ǫnd þau né átto, óð þau né hǫfðo,
- lá né læti né lito góða.
- Ǫnd gaf Óðinn, óð gaf Hœnir,
- lá gaf Lóðurr ok lito góða.[4]
- Benjamin Thorpe translation:
- Spirit they possessed not, sense they had not,
- blood nor motive powers, nor goodly colour.
- Spirit gave Odin, sense gave Hœnir,
- blood gave Lodur, and goodly colour.[5]
- Henry Adams Bellows translation:
- Soul they had not, sense they had not,
- Heat nor motion, nor goodly hue;
- Soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir,
- Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.[6]
The meaning of these gifts has been a matter of scholarly disagreement and translations therefore vary.[7]
According to chapter 9 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the three brothers Vili, Vé, and Odin, are the creators of the first man and woman. The brothers were once walking along a beach and found two trees there. They took the wood and from it created the first human beings; Ask and Embla. One of the three gave them the breath of life, the second gave them movement and intelligence, and the third gave them shape, speech, hearing and sight. Further, the three gods gave them clothing and names. Ask and Embla go on to become the progenitors of all humanity and were given a home within the walls of Midgard.[8]
Theories
Indo-European origins
A Proto-Indo-European basis has been theorized for the duo based on the etymology of embla meaning "vine." In Indo-European societies, an analogy is derived from the drilling of fire and sexual intercourse. Vines were used as a flammable wood, where they were placed beneath a drill made of harder wood, resulting in fire. Further evidence of ritual making of fire in Scandinavia has been theorized from a depiction on a stone plate on a Bronze Age grave in Kivik, Scania, Sweden.[1]
Jaan Puhvel comments that "ancient myths teem with trite 'first couples' similar to the type of Adam and his by-product Eve. In Indo-European tradition, these range from the Vedic Yama and Yamī and the Iranian Mašya and Mašyānag to the Icelandic Askr and Embla, with trees or rocks as preferred raw material, and dragon's teeth or other bony substance occasionally thrown in for good measure".[9]
In his study of the comparative evidence for an origin of mankind from trees in Indo-European society, Anders Hultgård observes that "myths of the origin of mankind from trees or wood seem to be particularly connected with ancient Europe and Indo-Europe and Indo-European-speaking peoples of Asia Minor and Iran. By contrast the cultures of the Near East show almost exclusively the type of anthropogonic stories that derive man's origin from clay, earth or blood by means of a divine creation act".[10]
Other potential Germanic analogues
Two wooden figures—the
A figure named
Connections have been proposed between Ask and Embla and the
Catalog of dwarfs
A stanza preceding the account of the creation of Ask and Embla in Völuspá provides a catalog of
Modern depictions
Ask and Embla have been the subject of a number of references and artistic depictions.
A sculpture depicting the two, created by Stig Blomberg in 1948, stands in Sölvesborg in southern Sweden.
Ask and Embla are depicted on two of the sixteen wooden panels by Dagfin Werenskiold on Oslo City Hall.[15]
Ask to Embla is the title of a poem, parts of which are quoted, by R. H. Ash, one of the protagonists in A. S. Byatt's novel Possession: A Romance, which won the Booker prize in 1990.
In the video game Fire Emblem Heroes, the two main warring kingdoms are Askr and Embla, which is where the Summoner, the player, finds themselves in, as the kingdom has been at war with the Emblian Empire when the game starts. It is later revealed both kingdoms are named after a pair of Ancient Dragons; with Askr being male and Embla female.
In the videogame Valheim, the developers named an armor set after Embla, as stated in their development blog entry on November 21, 2023: "we have named this set after one of the two first humans in Norse mythology: Embla".
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d Simek (2007:74).
- ISSN 0066-7668.
- ^ Thorpe (1907:337).
- ^ Dronke (1997:11).
- ^ Thorpe (1866:5).
- ^ Bellows (1936:8).
- ^ Schach (1985:93).
- ^ Byock (2006:18).
- ^ Puhvel (1989 [1987]:284).
- ^ Hultgård (2006:62).
- ^ Davidson (1975:88—89).
- ^ Orchard (1997:8).
- ^ Lindow (2001:62—63).
- ^ Larrington (1999:279).
- ^ Municipality of Oslo (2001-06-26). "Yggdrasilfrisen" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
References
- Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1936). The Poetic Edda. Princeton University Press. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2006). The Prose Edda. ISBN 0-14-044755-5
- ISBN 0-600-03637-5
- Hultgård, Anders (2006). "The Askr and Embla Myth in a Comparative Perspective". In Andrén, Anders; Jennbert, Kristina; Raudvere, Catharina (editors).Old Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives. Nordic Academic Press. ISBN 91-89116-81-X
- ISBN 0-19-811181-9
- Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.) (1999). The Poetic Edda. ISBN 0-19-283946-2
- ISBN 0-19-515382-0
- Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. ISBN 0-304-34520-2
- Puhvel, Jaan (1989 [1987]). Comparative Mythology. ISBN 0-8018-3938-6
- Schach, Paul (1985). "Some Thoughts on Völuspá" as collected in Glendinning, R. J. Bessason, Heraldur (Editors). Edda: a Collection of Essays. ISBN 0-88755-616-7
- ISBN 0-85991-513-1
- Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson. Norrœna Society.
- Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1866). Edda Sæmundar Hinns Frôða: The Edda of Sæmund the Learned. Part I. London: Trübner & Co.