The Prose Edda
Snorri Sturluson (Rasmus Anderson translation)
1,062 passages indexed from The Prose Edda (Snorri Sturluson (Rasmus Anderson translation)) — Page 15 of 22
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The Prose Edda, passage 339
When it had become dark, they sought a place for their night lodging, and found a very large hall. At the end of it was a door as wide as the hall. Here they remained through the night. About midnight there was a great earthquake; the ground trembled beneath them, and the house shook. Then Thor stood up and called his companions. They looked about them and found an adjoining room to the right, in the midst of the hall, and there they went in.
The Prose Edda, passage 338
46. He left his goats there and went on his way east into Jotunheim, clear to the sea, and then he went on across the deep ocean, and went ashore on the other side, together with Loke and Thjalfe and Roskva. When they had proceeded a short distance, there stood before them a great wood, through which they kept going the whole day until dark. Thjalfe, who was of all men the fleetest of foot, bore Thor’s bag, but the wood was no good place for provisions.
The Prose Edda, passage 101
In that part of the world is all beauty and pomp, and wealth of the earth’s products, gold and precious stones. There is also the mid-world, and as the earth there is fairer and of a better quality than elsewhere, so are also the people there most richly endowed with all gifts, with wisdom and strength, with beauty and with all knowledge.
The Prose Edda, passage 953
BAFUR. A dwarf. BALDER. Son of Odin and Frigg, slain by Hoder. BALEYG. A name of Odin. BAR-ISLE. A cool grove in which Gerd agreed with Skirner to meet Frey. BAUGE. A brother of Suttung. Odin worked for him one summer, in order to get his help in obtaining Suttung’s mead of poetry. BEIGUD. One of Rolf Krake’s berserks. BELE. A giant, brother of Gerd, slain by Frey. BERGELMER. A giant; son of Thrudgelmer and grandson of Aurgelmer. BERLING. A dwarf. BESTLA. Wife of Bure and mother of Odin.
The Prose Edda, passage 720
[Footnote 115: In the Vala’s Prophecy of the Elder Edda it is said that Odin talks with the head of Mimer before the coming of Ragnarok. See Norse Mythology, p. 421.]
The Prose Edda, passage 290
The twelfth is Hlin, who guards those men whom Frigg wants to protect from any danger. Hence is the saying that he hlins who is forewarned. The thirteenth is Snotra, who is wise and courtly. After her, men and women who are wise are called Snotras. The fourteenth is Gna, whom Frigg sends on her errands into various worlds. She rides upon a horse called Hofvarpner, that runs through the air and over the sea. Once, when she was riding, some vans saw her faring through the air.
The Prose Edda, passage 35
Not until eighty years later, that is in 1746, did the second edition of the Younger Edda appear in Upsala under the auspices of Johannes Goransson. This was printed from the Codex Upsaliensis.
The Prose Edda, passage 928
The devil did not like to spare it, and kept dickering and bantering with the man, but he insisted, and so the devil had to give him the hand-mill. When the man came out in the yard he asked the old wood-chopper how he should regulate the mill; and when he had learned how to do it, he said “thank you,” and made for home as fast as he could. But still he did not reach home before twelve o’clock in the night Christmas eve.
The Prose Edda, passage 32
2. _Codex Wormianus_. This is found in the University Library in Copenhagen, in the Arne Magnæan collection. It takes its name from Professor Ole Worm [died 1654], to whom it was presented by the learned Arngrim Jonsson. Christian Worm, the grandson of Ole Worm, and Bishop of Seeland [died 1737], afterward presented it to Arne Magnusson.
The Prose Edda, passage 370
Thor answered that he could not deny that he had been greatly disgraced in this meeting; and this I know, he added, that you will call me a man of little account, whereat I am much mortified.
The Prose Edda, passage 955
A giant; father of Bestla, mother of Odin. BOLVERK. A name of Odin. BOMBUR. A dwarf. BOR. Son of Bure; father of Odin. BRAGE. A son of Odin; the best of skalds. BREIDABLIK. The abode of Balder. BRIMER. One of the heavenly halls after Ragnarok. BRISING. Freyja’s necklace. BROK. A dwarf. BRYNHILD. One of the chief heroines in the Niblung story. BUDLE. Father of Atle and Brynhild. BUE. A son of Vesete, who settled in Borgundarholm. BURE. Grandfather of Odin. BYLEIST. A brother of Loke. BYRGER.
The Prose Edda, passage 92
2. In his old age Noah shared the world with his sons: for Ham he intended the western region, for Japheth the northern region, but for Shem the southern region, with those parts which will hereafter be marked out in the division of the earth into three parts.
The Prose Edda, passage 678
When she returned to Hedin, she told him that Hogne would not be reconciled, and bade him busk himself for the battle. And so both parties did; they landed on the island and marshaled their hosts. Then Hedin called to Hogne, his father-in-law, offering him a reconciliation and much gold as a ransom.
The Prose Edda, passage 590
He went to Hreidmar and showed Odin the gold; but when the latter saw the ring, it seemed to him a fair one, and he took it and put it aside, giving Hreidmar the rest of the gold. They filled the otter-belg as full as it would hold, and raised it up when it was full. Then came Odin, and was to cover the belg with gold; and when this was done, he requested Hreidmar to come and see whether the belg was sufficiently covered.
The Prose Edda, passage 851
It is an error to say that the Witches in _Macbeth_ “are never called witches” (compare Act i, scene 3: “‘Give me!’ quoth I. ‘A-roint thee, _witch_!’ the rump-fed ronyon cries”). However, their designation as Weird Sisters fully settles the case of their Germanic origin.
The Prose Edda, passage 987
SAHRIMNER. The boar on which the gods and heroes in Valhal live. SAD. A name of Odin. SAGA. The goddess of history. SAGER. The bucket carried by Bil and Hjuke. SANGETAL. A name of Odin. SEKIN. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer. SESSRYMNER. Freyja’s palace. SIAR. A dwarf. SID. A stream flowing from Hvergelmer. SIDHOT. A name of Odin. SIDSKEG. A name of Odin. SIF. Thor’s wife. SIGFATHER. A name of Odin. SIGFRID. The hero in the Niblung story; the same as Sigurd. SIGMUND. Son of Volsung.
The Prose Edda, passage 493
But the asas say that when Oku-Thor missed the serpent, he slew the giant Hymer. In Ragnarok the Midgard serpent came suddenly upon Thor and blew venom onto him, and thus struck him dead. But the asas could not make up their minds to say that this had been the fate of Oku-Thor, that anyone stood over him dead, though this had so happened.
The Prose Edda, passage 183
But the gods became wroth at this arrogance, took both the brother and the sister, set them up in heaven, and made Sun drive the horses that draw the car of the sun, which the gods had made to light up the world from sparks that flew out of Muspelheim. These horses hight Arvak and Alsvid. Under their withers the gods placed two wind-bags to cool them, but in some songs it is called ironcold (ísarnkol). Moon guides the course of the moon, and rules its waxing and waning.
The Prose Edda, passage 54
Snorre Sturleson and Olaf Hvitaskald are the two names to whom the authorship of the Younger Edda has generally been attributed, and the work is by many, even to this day, called Snorra Edda--that is, Snorre’s Edda. We do not propose to enter into any elaborate discussion of this complicated subject, but we will state briefly the reasons given by Keyser and others for believing that these men had a hand in preparing the Prose Edda.
The Prose Edda, passage 848
Not less marked is the adoption of the fullest staff-rime--together (as above) with the end-rime--in the third scene, when the Weird Sisters speak. Again, there is the staff-rime when Banquo addresses them. Again, the strongest alliteration, combined with the end-rime, runs all through the Witches’ spell-song in Act iv, scene 1.
The Prose Edda, passage 352
Finding the door open they entered, and saw there many men, the most of whom were immensely large, sitting on two benches. Thereupon they approached the king, Utgard-Loke, and greeted him. He scarcely deigned to look at them, smiled scornfully and showed his teeth, saying: It is late to ask for tidings of a long journey, but if I am not mistaken this stripling is Oku-Thor, is it not? It may be, however, that you are really bigger than you look For what feats are you and your companions prepared?
The Prose Edda, passage 280
The wolf answered: If you get me bound so fast that I am not able to loose myself again, you will skulk away, and it will be long before I get any help from you, wherefore I am loth to let this band be laid on me; but in order that you may not accuse me of cowardice, let some one of you lay his hand in my mouth as a pledge that this is done without deceit.
The Prose Edda, passage 357
Then they took a second heat, and when Huge came to the goal and turned, there was a long bolt-shot to Thjalfe. Then said Utgard-Loke: Thjalfe seems to me to run well; still I scarcely think he will win the race, but this will be proven when they run the third heat. Then they took one more heat. Huge ran to the goal and turned back, but Thjalfe had not yet gotten to the middle of the course. Then all said that this game had been tried sufficiently.
The Prose Edda, passage 998
YDALER. Uller’s dwelling. YG. A name of Odin. YGDRASIL. The world-embracing ash-tree. YLG. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer. YMER. The huge giant out of whose body the world was created.
The Prose Edda, passage 159
And on this point, when Vafthrudner, the giant, was asked by Gangrad:
The Prose Edda, passage 942
They went homeward, but on coming up the hill they met the flood of fish and gruel and bread, the one mixed up with the other, and the man came running ahead of the flood.
The Prose Edda, passage 190
[Footnote 20: That wolves follow the sun and moon, is a wide-spread popular superstition. In Sweden, a parhelion is called Solvarg (sun-wolf).]
The Prose Edda, passage 1004
Bikke, 202, 203. Bil, 66, 99, 250. Bileyg, 81, 245. Bilskirner, 82, 259. Bjaf, 45. Bjalfe, 233. Bjar, 45. Bjarnhedinn, 233. Black Sea, 225, 229. Blackwell, W. L., 15, 18. Blain, 70. Blind, Karl, 252-256. Blodughofde, 260. Blueland, 225, 226. Bodn, 160-165. Bodvar Bjarke, 215. Bol, 106. Bolthorn, 60, 250. Bolverk, 81, 162, 163, 245. Bombur, 70. Bor, 50, 61, 64, 250. Borgundarholm, 240. Bornholm, 240. Bothnia, 240.
The Prose Edda, passage 121
9. A king in Troy hight Munon or Mennon, his wife was a daughter of the head-king Priamos and hight Troan; they had a son who hight Tror, him we call Thor. He was fostered in Thrace by the duke, who is called Loricos. But when he was ten winters old he took his father’s weapons. So fair of face was he, when he stood by other men, as when ivory is set in oak; his hair was fairer than gold.
The Prose Edda, passage 109
6. Once he went to Greece in a ship, for there was a king’s daughter on whom he had set his heart. He won her love in this way, that one day when she was out with her maid-servants, he took upon himself the likeness of a bull, and lay before her in the wood, and so fair was he that the hue of gold was on every hair; and when the king’s daughter saw him she patted his lips. He sprang up and threw off the bull’s likeness and took her into his arms and bore her to the ship and took her to Crete.
The Prose Edda, passage 1014
Glam, 183. Glapsvid, 81, 245. Glaser, 187, 199. Gleipner, 87, 94. Glener, 66. Gler, 73, 260. Glitner, 77, 89, 90, 259. Glod, 240. Gloin, 71. Glora, 44. Gna, 98, 99. Gnipa-cave, 8, 143. Gnita-heath, 196-200. God, 33-40, 54. Godheim, 225, 236. Goe, 241. Goin, 75. Gol, 99. Golden Age, 69-71. Goldfax, 169, 176. Gomul, 106. Gondler, 81, 245. Gondul, 252. Gopul, 106. Gor, 241. Got, 246. Gote, 199. Gothorm, 198-211. Gotland, 206. Goransson, J., 18. Grabak, 76. Grad, 106. Grafvitner, 75. Grafvollud, 76.
The Prose Edda, passage 388
Thor threw the hammer after it, and it is even said that he struck off his head at the bottom, but I think the truth is that the Midgard-serpent still lives and lies in the ocean. Thor clenched his fist and gave the giant a box on the ear so that he fell backward into the sea, and he saw his heels last, but Thor waded ashore.
The Prose Edda, passage 705
[Footnote 105: The Saracens’ land (Serkland) means North Africa and Spain, and the Saracen countries in Asia; that is, Persia, Assyria, etc.]
The Prose Edda, passage 592
But when Odin had taken his spear, and Loke his shoes, so that they had nothing more to fear, Loke said that the curse that Andvare had pronounced should be fulfilled, and that the ring and that gold should be the bane of its possessor; and this curse was afterward fulfilled. This explains why gold is called the otter-ransom, or forced payment of the asas, or strife-metal.
The Prose Edda, passage 538
The wearer of Megingjard Saw the flood fall On his hard-waxed shoulders: He could do no better. The destroyer of troll-children Let his neck-strength Wax heaven high, Till the mighty stream should diminish.
The Prose Edda, passage 289
The tenth is Vor, who is so wise and searching that nothing can be concealed from her. It is a saying that a woman becomes vor (ware) of what she becomes wise. The eleventh is Syn, who guards the door of the hall, and closes it against those who are not to enter. In trials she guards those suits in which anyone tries to make use of falsehood. Hence is the saying that “syn is set against it,” when anyone tries to deny ought.
The Prose Edda, passage 198
Nye, Nide, Nordre, Sudre, Austre, Vestre, Althjof, Dvalin, Na, Nain, Niping, Dain, Bifur, Bafur, Bombor, Nore, Ore, Onar, Oin, Mjodvitner, Vig, Gandalf, Vindalf, Thorin, File, Kile, Fundin, Vale, Thro, Throin, Thek, Lit, Vit, Ny, Nyrad, Rek, Radsvid.
The Prose Edda, passage 184
He took from the earth two children, who hight Bil and Hjuke, as they were going from the well called Byrger, and were carrying on their shoulders the bucket called Sager and the pole Simul. Their father’s name is Vidfin. These children always accompany Moon, as can be seen from the earth.
The Prose Edda, passage 185
12. Then said Ganglere: Swift fares Sun, almost as if she were afraid, and she could make no more haste in her course if she feared her destroyer. Then answered Har: Nor is it wonderful that she speeds with all her might. Near is he who pursues her, and there is no escape for her but to run before him. Then asked Ganglere: Who causes her this toil? Answered Har: It is two wolves. The one hight Skol, he runs after her; she fears him and he will one day overtake her.
The Prose Edda, passage 11
These are the outlines of the Teutonic religion. Such were the doctrines established by Odin among our ancestors. Thus do we find it recorded in the Eddas of Iceland.
The Prose Edda, passage 867
Now, curiously enough, the central head of the slab found near Wessobrunn, in the neighborhood of the Cloister of the Three Holy Bournes, is _bearded_. This has puzzled our archæologists. Some of them fancied that what appears to be a beard might after all be the hair of one of the fays or Norns, tied round the chin. By the light of the description of the Weird Sisters in Shakspeare’s _Macbeth_ we, however, see at once the true connection.
The Prose Edda, passage 991
The ancestor of all enchanters. SVASUD. The name of a giant; father of summer. SVIAGRIS. A ring demanded by the berserks for Rolf Krake. SVID. A name of Odin. SVIDAR. A name of Odin. SVIDR. A name of Odin. SVIDRE. A name of Odin. SVIDRIR. A name of Odin. SVIDUR. A name of Odin. SVIPDAG. The betrothed of Menglad. SVIPOL. A name of Odin. SVOL. One of the streams flowing from Hvergelmer. SVOLNE. A name of Odin. SYLG. A stream flowing from Hvergelmer. SYN. A minor goddess. SYR. A name of Freyja.
The Prose Edda, passage 863
Near Wessobrunn, in Upper Bavaria, where the semi-heathen fragment of a cosmogonic lay, known as “Wessobrunn Prayer,” was discovered, there has also been found, of late, a rudely-sculptured three-headed image. It is looked upon as an ancient effigy of the German Norns. The Cloister of the three Holy Bournes, or Fountains, which stands close by the place of discovery, is supposed to have been set up on ground that had once served for pagan worship.
The Prose Edda, passage 571
From the king I received The fire of the brook. This the king gave to me And a head with song.
The Prose Edda, passage 912
In the Nibelungen-Lied, as transposed by Auber Forestier, in Echoes from Mist-Land, we have a perfect gem of literature from the middle high German period, but its author had lost sight of the divine and mythical origin of the material that he wove into his poem. It is only by combining the German Nibelungen-Lied with the mythical materials found in Norseland that our national Teutonic epic can be restored to us.
The Prose Edda, passage 909
RAGNAROK. The word is found written in two ways, Ragnarok and ragnarökr. Ragna is genitive plural, from the word regin (god), and means of the gods. Rok means reason, ground, origin, a wonder, sign, marvel. It is allied to the O.H.G. _rahha_ = sentence, judgment. Ragnarök would then mean _the history of the gods_, and applied to the dissolution of the world, might be translated _the last judgment_, _doomsday_, _weird of gods and the world_.
The Prose Edda, passage 719
[Footnote 114: See Brage’s Talk, p. 160; and Norse Mythology, pp. 247 and 342.]
The Prose Edda, passage 976
IDA. A plain where the gods first assemble, and where they assemble again after Ragnarok. IDAVOLD. The same. IDE. A giant, son of Olvalde. IDUN. Wife of Brage; she kept the rejuvenating apples. IRONWOOD. The abode of giantesses called Jarnveds. IVA. A river in Jotunheim. IVALD. The father of the dwarfs that made Sif’s hair, the ship Skidbladner, and Odin’s spear Gungner.
The Prose Edda, passage 757
By means of this he could know beforehand the predestined fate[128] of men, or their not yet completed lot, and also bring on the death, ill-luck or bad health of people, or take away the strength or wit from one person and give it to another. But after such witchcraft followed such weakness and anxiety, that it was not thought respectable for men to practice it; and therefore the priestesses were brought up in this art.
The Prose Edda, passage 263
31. Uller is the name of one, who is a son of Sif, and a step-son of Thor. He is so good an archer, and so fast on his skees, that no one can contend with him. He is fair of face, and possesses every quality of a warrior. Men should invoke him in single combat.