Gerðr
In Norse mythology, Gerðr (Old Norse: [ˈɡerðz̠]; "fenced-in"[1]) is a jötunn, goddess, and the wife of the god Freyr. Gerðr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in the poetry of skalds. Gerðr is sometimes modernly anglicized as Gerd or Gerth.
In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Freyr sees Gerðr from a distance, becomes deeply lovesick at the sight of her shimmering beauty, and has his servant Skírnir go to Jötunheimr (where Gerðr and her father Gymir reside) to gain her love. In the Poetic Edda Gerðr initially refuses, yet after a series of threats by Skírnir she is forced to yield. In the Prose Edda, no mention of threats is made. In both sources, Gerðr agrees to meet Freyr at a fixed time at the location of Barri and, after Skírnir returns with Gerðr's response, Freyr laments that the meeting could not occur sooner. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Gerðr is described as the daughter of Gymir and the jötunn Aurboða.
In
Attestations
Gerðr is attested in two poems in the Poetic Edda, in two books of the Prose Edda, and in two books in Heimskringla.
Poetic Edda
In the Poetic Edda poem Skírnismál, the god Freyr sat on the high seat Hlidskjalf and looked into all worlds. Freyr saw a beautiful girl walking from the hall of her father to a storehouse. Freyr became heartsick for the girl. Freyr has a page named Skírnir. Freyr's father Njörðr and, in verse, the goddess Skaði tells Skírnir to find out what troubles Freyr. An exchange occurs between Freyr and Skírnir in verse, where Freyr tells Skírnir that he has seen a wondrous girl with shining arms at the home of (her father) Gymir, yet that the gods and elves do not wish for the two to be together:
- Benjamin Thorpe translation:
- In Gýmir's courts I saw walking
- a maid for whom I long.
- Her arms gave forth light wherewith shone
- all air and water.
- Henry Adams Bellows translation:
- "From Gymir's house I behold forth
- A maiden dear to me;
- Her arms glittered, and from their gleam
- Shone all the sea and sky."
- "To me more dear than in days of old
- Was ever maiden to man;
- But no one of gods or elves will grant
- That we be together should be."[3]
Skírnir requests that Freyr give him a horse and Freyr's sword; a sword which fights
Hearing a terrible noise in her dwellings, Gerðr asks where it is coming from, noting that the earth trembles and that all of Gymir's courts shake. A serving maid (unnamed) notes that outside a man has dismounted his horse and has let it graze. Gerðr tells the serving maid to invite the man to come into their hall and to partake of some of their "famous mead," yet Gerðr expresses fear that the man outside may be her "brother's slayer".[5]
Gerðr asks the stranger if he is of the elves, Æsir, or the Vanir, and why he comes alone "over the wild fire" to seek their company. Skírnir responds that he is of none of these groups, yet that he has indeed sought her out. Skírnir offers Gerðr 11 golden apples (or apples of eternal life, in a common emendation) to gain her favor. Gerðr rejects the apples—no matter who offers them—and adds that neither will she and Freyr be together as long as they live. Skírnir offers Gerðr a ring, here unnamed (Draupnir), that produces eight more gold rings every ninth night and "was burned with Odin's young son". Gerðr responds that she is not interested in the ring, for she shares her father's property, and Gymir has no lack of gold.[6]
Threats
Skírnir turns to threats; he points out to Gerðr that he holds a sword in his hand and he threatens to cut her head from her neck unless she agrees. Gerðr refuses; she says that she will not endure the coercion of any man, and says that if Gymir encounters Skírnir then a battle can be expected. Skírnir again reminds Gerðr of his blade and predicts that Gerðr's jötunn father will meet his doom with it. Skírnir warns Gerðr that he will strike her with his
Skírnir declares that when Gerðr comes out she will be a spectacle;
Skírnir says that he has been to a wood to get a "potent branch", which he found. He declares that the gods
Gerðr responds with a welcome to Skírnir and tells him to take a crystal cup containing ancient mead, noting that she thought she would never love one of the Vanir. Skírnir asks her when she will meet with Freyr. Gerðr says that they shall meet at a tranquil location called Barri, and that after nine nights she will there grant Freyr her love:
- Benjamin Thorpe translation:
- Barri is the grove named, which we both know,
- the grove of tranquil paths.
- Nine nights hence, there to Niörd's son
- Gerd will grant delight.[10]
- Henry Adams Bellows translation:
- Barri there is, which we both know well,.
- A forest fair and still;
- And nine nights hence to the son of Njorth
- Will Gerth grant delight.[11]
Skírnir rides home. Standing outside, Freyr immediately greets Skírnir and asks for news. Skírnir tells him that Gerðr says she will meet with him at Barri. Freyr, impatient, comments that one night is long, as is two nights, and questions how he will bear three, noting that frequently a month seemed shorter than half a night before being with Gerðr.[12]
A stanza in the poem Lokasenna refers to Gerðr. In the poem, Loki accuses the god Freyr of having purchased Gymir's daughter (Gerðr) with gold and comments that, in the process, Freyr gave away his sword. Referring to Freyr as a "wretch", Loki then posits how Freyr intends to fight when the Sons of Muspell ride over the wood Myrkviðr (an event during Ragnarök). Freyr's servant, Byggvir, interjects and the poem continues.[13]
In the poem Hyndluljóð, Óttar's ancestry is recounted and information is provided about the gods. One stanza that actually belongs to Völuspá hin skamma relates that Freyr and Gerðr were married, that Gerðr is the daughter of the jötunn Gymir, that Gerðr's mother is Aurboða, and that they are related to Þjazi (the nature of the kinship is not specified)—father of the goddess and jötunn Skaði.[14]
Prose Edda
In chapter 37 of the
Freyr arrives home and neither sleeps nor drinks, remaining in silence. No one dares speak to him. The god
At the beginning of the Prose Edda book
Heimskringla
In chapter 12 of
Archaeological record
Small pieces of gold foil featuring engravings dating from the Migration Period into the early Viking Age (known as gullgubber) have been discovered in various locations in Scandinavia, almost 2,500 at one location. The foil pieces have been found largely at sites of buildings, only rarely in graves. The figures are sometimes single, occasionally an animal, sometimes a man and a woman with a leafy bough between them, facing or embracing one another. The human figures are almost always clothed and are sometimes depicted with their knees bent. Scholar Hilda Ellis Davidson says that it has been suggested that the figures are partaking in a dance, and that they may have been connected with weddings, as well as linked to the Vanir group of gods, representing the notion of a divine marriage, such as in the Poetic Edda poem Skírnismál; the coming together of Gerðr and Freyr.[21]
Theories
"Rival of Frigg"
In chapter 19 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, Gerðr is listed among "rivals" of the goddess Frigg, a list of sexual partners of Frigg's husband, Odin.[17] Instead of Gerðr, the jötunn Gríðr, mother of Odin's son Víðarr according to the Prose Edda, was probably intended. One manuscript has Gríðr corrected to Gerðr.[22] Andy Orchard notes that it may nonetheless be an intentional inclusion in view of "Odin's notorious appetites".[1]
Earth and fertility
Scholar
Hilda Ellis Davidson comments that Gerðr's role in Skírnismál has parallels with the goddess Persephone from Greek mythology, "since it is made clear that if [Gerðr] remains below in the dark kingdom of the underworld there will be nothing to hope for but sterility and famine. She does not become the bride of the underworld, however; her bridal is to be in the upper world when she consents to meet Freyr at Barri."[24]
Modern influence
Gerðr has inspired works of art and literature. The Danish poet
Saturn's moon Gerd is named after her.Notes
- ^ a b Orchard (1997:54).
- ^ Thorpe (1866:80).
- ^ Bellows (1923:110).
- ^ Larrington (1999:62—63).
- ^ Larrington (1999:64).
- ^ Larrington (1999:64). Regarding alternate translation of "eleven", see Larrington (1999:271).
- ^ Larrington (1999:65).
- ^ Larrington (1999:65—66).
- ^ Larrington (1999:66—67).
- ^ Thorpe (1866:84).
- ^ Bellows (1923:119).
- ^ Larrington (1999:68).
- ^ Larrington (1999:91—92).
- ^ Larrington (1999:257).
- ^ a b Faulkes (1995:31).
- ^ Faulkes (1995:31—-32).
- ^ a b Faulkes (1995:86).
- ^ Faulkes (1995:157).
- ^ Hollander (2007:14).
- ^ Hollander (2007:143).
- ^ Davidson (1988:121).
- ^ Finnur Jónsson (1900:90); he emends the text. In his 1931 diplomatic Arnamagnæan edition he notes the same.
- ^ Lindow (2001:139).
- ^ Davidson (1999:86).
- ^ Simek (2007:105).
- ^ Björn Þór Sigbjörnsson, Bergsteinn Sigurðsson, and others, Ísland í aldanna rás, 2001-2010: Saga lands og þjóðar ár frá ári (Reykjavík: JPV, 2012), 390.
- ISBN 978-1-80010-609-3.
References
- Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1923). The Poetic Edda. The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). Edda. ISBN 0-460-87616-3
- ISBN 9780815624387.
- Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1999). Roles of the Northern Goddess. New York: ISBN 0-415-13611-3.
- Finnur Jónsson (1900). Edda Snorra Sturlusonar (in Danish). Copenhagen: Gad.
Hvernig skal kenna Frigg.
- ISBN 978-0-292-73061-8
- 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
- ISBN 0-85991-513-1
- Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1866) The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson. Norrœna Society.