Vanaheimr
In Norse cosmology, Vanaheimr (Old Norse for 'home of the Vanir'[1]) is a location associated with the Vanir, a group of gods themselves associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future.
Vanaheimr is attested in the
Attestations
Vanaheimr is mentioned a single time in the Poetic Edda; in a stanza of the poem
- Benjamin Thorpe translation:
- In Vanaheim wise powers him created,
- and to the gods a hostage gave.
- At the world's dissolution,
- he will return to the wise Vanir.[2]
- Henry Adams Bellows translation:
- In the home of the Wanes did the wise ones create him,
- And gave him as a pledge to the gods;
- At the fall of the world shall he far once more
- Home to the Wanes so wise.[3]
In chapter 23 of the
The
Theories
The existence of
Hilda Ellis Davidson comments that exactly where Vanaheimr fall among the Nine Worlds isn't clear, since "the chief gods Freyr and Njord with a number of others, are represented along with the Æsir in Asgard, but it seems probable that it was in the underworld." Davidson notes a connection between the Vanir and "the land-spirits who dwelt in mounds and hills and in water [...].[10]
Rudolf Simek claims that Snorri "unquestionably" invented the name Vanaheimr as a Vanir counterpart to Asgard, but does not mention the Vafþrúðnismál reference.[11]
Notes
References
- Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1923). The Poetic Edda. American-Scandinavian Foundation
- Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005). The Prose Edda. ISBN 0-14-044755-5
- ISBN 0-203-40850-0
- ISBN 978-0-292-73061-8
- McKinnell, John (2005). Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend. ISBN 1-84384-042-1
- ISBN 0-85991-513-1
- Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans) (1866) The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson. Norrœna Society.