Dagr

In the poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins, the appearance of Dagr and his horse and chariot are described:

The son of Delling

urged on his horse

adorned with

precious jewels.

Over Mannheim shines

the horse's mane,

the steed Dvalin's deluder

dew in his chariot.^[4]

Prose Edda

In the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Dagr is again personified. In chapter 10, the enthroned figure of High states that Dagr is the son of the couple of Dellingr of the Æsir and his wife Nótt ("night"). Dagr is described as "as bright and beautiful as his father's people". Odin took Dagr and his mother Nótt, gave them each a chariot and a horse — Dagr receiving the horse Skinfaxi, whose mane illuminates all the sky and the Earth — and placed them in the sky to ride around the Earth every 24 hours.^[5]

Dagr is again personified in chapter 24 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, where he is stated as a brother of Jörð.^[6] As a common noun, Dagr appears in chapter 58, where "Skinfaxi or Glad" is stated as pulling forth the day,^[6] and chapter 64, where Dagr is stated as one of various words for time.^[7]

However, scholar Haukur Thorgeirsson points out that the four manuscripts of Gylfaginning vary in their descriptions of the family relations between Nótt, Jörð, Dagr, and Dellingr. In other words, depending on the manuscript, either Jörð or Nótt is the mother of Dagr and partner of Dellingr. Haukur details that "the oldest manuscript, U, offers a version where Jǫrð is the wife of Dellingr and the mother of Dagr while the other manuscripts, R, W and T, cast Nótt in the role of Dellingr's wife and Dagr's mother", and argues that "the version in U came about accidentally when the writer of U or its antecedent shortened a text similar to that in RWT. The results of this accident made their way into the Icelandic poetic tradition".^[8]

Svipdagr

• Dagaz, the d rune
• Dag the Wise
• Dies (deity)
• Hemera

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Notes

References