Bestla
Bestla (Old Norse: [ˈbestlɑ]) is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the mother of the gods Odin, Vili and Vé (by way of Borr). She is also the sister of an unnamed man who assisted Odin, and the daughter (or granddaughter depending on the source) of the jötunn Bölþorn. Odin is frequently called "Bestla's son" in both skaldic verses and the Poetic Edda.[1]
Bestla is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the poetry of skalds. Scholars have commented on the obscurity of the figure's name and have proposed various theories to explain the role and origin of the giantess.
Name
The meaning of the Old Norse name Bestla remains uncertain. Scholars have proposed potential meanings such as 'wife', or 'bark, bast'.[1] It might stem from *Bastilōn (perhaps a yew goddess, originally a 'bast-donor'), or from *Banstillōn (via an intermediate form *Böstla), related to Old Frisian bös ('marriage, union', originally 'wife').[2]
According to Rudolf Simek, "the name appears to be very old" due to its obscurity.[3]
Attestations
In
He married that woman who was called Bestla, the daughter of the giant Bölthorn. They had three sons; the first was called Odin, the second Vili, the third Vé.
— Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning, 5–7, trans. J. Lindow, 2002.
In Skáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry), a poem by the skald Einarr Helgarson refers to Odin as "Bestla's son".[5]
- H. A. Bellows translation (1923):
- Nine mighty songs I got from the son
- Of Bolthorn, Bestla's father;
- And a drink I got of the goodly mead
- Poured out from Othrorir.[7]
Theories
On the basis of the Hávamál stanza handled above (wherein Odin learns nine magic songs from the unnamed brother of Bestla), some scholars have theorized that Bestla's brother may in fact be the wise being Mímir, from whose severed head the god Odin gains wisdom.[8]
Since Odin is descended from the jötnar on his mother's side, the slaying of Ymir by him and his brothers could be seen as an intra-familial killing and, according to scholar John Lindow, "the slaying or denial of a maternal relation".[4]
Waltraud Hunke has argued that Bestla should be regarded as the bark of the world tree on which Odin was perhaps born, alluding to Hávamál (141): "then I started to grow fruitful".[4]
In his translation of the Poetic Edda, Henry Adams Bellows comments that such the position of the stanza 140 in Hávamál appears to be the result of manuscript interpolation, and that its meaning is obscure.[7]
Notes
- ^ a b Orchard 1997, p. 19.
- ^ de Vries 1962, p. 34.
- ^ Simek 1996, p. 37.
- ^ a b c d e f Lindow 2002, p. 77.
- ^ Faulkes 1987, p. 69.
- ^ Thorpe 1866, p. 45.
- ^ a b Bellows (1923:92).
- ^ Examples include Rydberg (1886), Bellows (1923:92), and Puhvel 1989, p. 212.
References
- American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- ISBN 978-90-04-05436-3.
- Faulkes, Anthony, trans. (1987). Edda (1995 ed.). Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3.
- ISBN 978-0-19-983969-8.
- ISBN 978-0-304-34520-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8018-3938-2.
- Thorpe, Benjamin, ed. (1866), Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned, vol. 1 (1907 ed.), London: Trübner & Co.
- ISBN 978-0-85991-513-7.