The Prose Edda
Snorri Sturluson (Rasmus Anderson translation)
1,062 passages indexed from The Prose Edda (Snorri Sturluson (Rasmus Anderson translation)) — Page 16 of 22
License: Public Domain
The Prose Edda, passage 626
Upon these sagas very many skalds have made lays, and from them they have taken various themes. Brage the Old made the following song about the fall of Sorle and Hamder in the drapa, which he composed about Ragnar Lodbrok:
The Prose Edda, passage 630
King Jormunrek Ordered Gjuke’s descendants Violently to be stoned When they came to take the life Of Swanhild’s husband. All sought to pay Jonaker’s sons With blows and wounds.
The Prose Edda, passage 691
Roman history begins and ends with Romulus; and we fancy we can see some connection between Od-in and Od-oacer. “As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.”
The Prose Edda, passage 759
He taught the most of his arts to his priests of the sacrifices, and they came nearest to himself in all wisdom and witch-knowledge. Many others, however, occupied themselves much with it; and from that time witchcraft spread far and wide, and continued long. People sacrificed to Odin, and the twelve chiefs of Asaland,--called them their gods, and believed in them long after.
The Prose Edda, passage 1056
identical in root with Lat. _divus_; / Sansk. _dwas_ _so in original; the Sanskrit is usually given as “dyaus”_
The Prose Edda, passage 29
In some editions there are also found six additional chapters on the alphabet, grammar, figures of speech, etc.
The Prose Edda, passage 78
In this remotest corner of the world the ancestral spirit was preserved like the glowing embers of Hekla beneath the snow and ice of the glacier. From the farthest Thule the spirit of our fathers rises and shines like an aurora over all Teutondom. It was in the year 860 that Iceland was discovered. In 874 the Teutonic spirit fled thither for refuge from tyranny. Here a government based on the principles of old Teutonic liberty was established.
The Prose Edda, passage 814
Finally, all such names as Herfather = father of hosts; Herjan = the devastator; Sigfather = the father of victory; Sigtyr = god of victory; Skilfing = producing trembling; Hnikar = the breaker, etc., represent Odin as the god of war and victory. Oske = wish, is thus called because he gratifies our desires. Gimle, as will be seen later, is the abode of the blessed after Ragnarok. Vingolf (Vin and golf) means _friends’ floor_, and is the hall of the goddesses.
The Prose Edda, passage 881
(1) Sleipner (Odin’s), (2) Goldtop (Heimdal’s), (3) Glad, (4) Gyller, (5) Gler, (6) Skeidbrimer, (7) Silvertop, (8) Siner, (9) Gisl, (10) Falhofner, (11) Lightfoot, (12) Blodughofdi (Frey’s).
The Prose Edda, passage 158
All the valas are From Vidolf descended; All wizards are Of Vilmeide’s race; All enchanters Are sons of Svarthofde; All giants have Come from Ymer.[14]
The Prose Edda, passage 526
Wax not Vimer, Since I intend to wade To the gards of giants. Know, if you wax, Then waxes my asa-might As high, as the heavens.
The Prose Edda, passage 322
On the first day of winter he began to build the burg, but by night he hauled stone for it with his horse. But it seemed a great wonder to the asas what great rocks that horse drew, and the horse did one half more of the mighty task than the builder. The bargain was firmly established with witnesses and oaths, for the giant did not deem it safe to be among the asas without truce if Thor should come home, who now was on a journey to the east fighting trolls.
The Prose Edda, passage 808
Odin I now am called, Ygg was my name before, Before that I hight Thund, Yak and Skilfing, Vafud and Hroptatyr, Got and Jalk ’mong the gods, Ofner and Svafner. All these names, I trow, Have to me alone been given.
The Prose Edda, passage 634
Odin had a son by name Skjold, from whom the Skjoldungs are descended. He had his throne and ruled in the lands that are now called Denmark, but were then called Gotland. Skjold had a son by name Fridleif, who ruled the lands after him. Fridleif’s son was Frode. He took the kingdom after his father, at the time when the Emperor Augustus established peace in all the earth and Christ was born.
The Prose Edda, passage 994
VAFTHRUDNER. A giant visited by Odin. VAFUD. A name of Odin. VAFURLOGE. The bickering flame surrounding Brynhild on Hindfell. VAK. A name of Odin. VALASKJALF. One of Odin’s dwellings. VALE. Brother of Balder; kills Hoder. VALFATHER. A name of Odin. VALHAL. The hall to which Odin invites those slain in battle. VANADIS. A name of Freyja. VANAHEIM. The home of the vans. VAR. The goddess of betrothals and marriages. VARTARE. The thread with which the mouth of Loke was sewed together. VASAD.
The Prose Edda, passage 249
Folkvang it is called, And there rules Freyja. For the seats in the hall Half of the slain She chooses each day; The other half is Odin’s.[39]
The Prose Edda, passage 544
Wailing was ’mongst the cave-dwellers When the giants, With warlike spirit endowed, Went forward. There was war. The slayer of troll-women, By foes surrounded, The giant’s hard head hit.
The Prose Edda, passage 657
Fire I see burn East of the burg,-- The warnews are awake. That is called warning. A host hither Hastily approaches To burn the king’s Lofty dwelling.
The Prose Edda, passage 1005
Brage, 6, 9, 16, 25, 50, 87, 108, 153, 154, 159, 160, 164, 166, 169, 184, 187, 189, 205, 231, 260. Brander, 46. Breidablik, 77, 84, 232, 259. Brimer, 147, 166. Brising, 97, 186, 261, 262. Britain, 230. Brok, 190-192. Brynhild, 198-201, 262, 267. Budd, 244. Buddha, 244. Budle, 198, 201. Bue, 240. Bugge, Sophus, 18. Bure, 5, 60, 250. Byleist, 91, 144. Byrger, 66.
The Prose Edda, passage 612
But Gunnar and Hogne inherited Fafner’s gold and the Gift of Andvare, and now ruled the lands.
The Prose Edda, passage 241
23. The third asa is he who is called Njord. He dwells in Noatun, which is in heaven. He rules the course of the wind and checks the fury of the sea and of fire. He is invoked by seafarers and by fishermen. He is so rich and wealthy that he can give broad lands and abundance to those who call on him for them. He was fostered in Vanaheim, but the vans[37] gave him as a hostage to the gods, and received in his stead as an asa-hostage the god whose name is Honer.
The Prose Edda, passage 932
Then he ground food and drink, and all good things, for the whole Christmas week, and on the third day he invited his friends: he was going to have a party. When the rich brother saw all the nice and good things at the party, he became very wroth, for he could not bear to see his brother have anything.
The Prose Edda, passage 734
_ve_ with the German _Wei_ in _Weinacht_), and gave the kingdom to his son Skjold (shield); how he conquered Sweden, founded the Sigtuna temple, and gave the country to his son Yngve; how finally Norway had to submit to him, and be ruled by a third son of Odin, Saming.
The Prose Edda, passage 516
Balder’s brother[83] did not tremble Before the greedy fiend of men; Mountains quaked and rocks broke; The heavens were wrapped in flames. Much did the giant Get frightened, I learn, When his bane man he saw Ready to slay him.
The Prose Edda, passage 277
But how was the fetter smithied? Answered Har: That I can well explain to you. It was smooth and soft as a silken string. How strong and trusty it was you shall now hear. When the fetter was brought to the asas, they thanked the messenger for doing his errand so well. Then they went out into the lake called Amsvartner, to the holm (rocky island) called Lyngve, and called the wolf to go with them.
The Prose Edda, passage 581
Then he gave to Thor the hammer, and said that he might strike with it as hard as he pleased; no matter what was before him, the hammer would take no scathe, and wherever he might throw it he would never lose it; it would never fly so far that it did not return to his hand; and if he desired, it would become so small that he might conceal it in his bosom; but it had one fault, which was, that the handle was rather short.
The Prose Edda, passage 1048
A few paragraph-ending periods (full stops) have been supplied.
The Prose Edda, passage 696
And now we are prepared to give the Heimskringla account of the historical Odin. We have adopted Samuel Laing’s translation, with a few verbal alterations where such seemed necessary.
The Prose Edda, passage 744
Odin took up his residence at the Malar lake, at the place now called Sigtun.[123] There he erected a large temple, where there were sacrifices according to the customs of the Asaland people. He appropriated to himself the whole of that district of country, and called it Sigtun. To the temple gods he gave also domains. Njord dwelt in Noatun, Frey in Upsal, Heimdal in Himinbjorg, Thor in Thrudvang, Balder in Breidablik;[124] to all of them he gave good domains.
The Prose Edda, passage 840
In reference to Ygdrasil, we refer our readers to Norse Mythology, pp. 205-211, and to Thomas Carlyle’s Heroes and Hero-worship.
The Prose Edda, passage 110
But his wife, Juno, found this out, so he turned her (the king’s daughter) into the likeness of a heifer and sent her east to the arms of the great river (that is, of the Nile, to the Nile country), and let the thrall, who hight Argulos, take care of her. She was there twelve months before he changed her shape again. Many things did he do like this, or even more wonderful He had three sons: one hight Jupiter, another Neptune, the third Pluto.
The Prose Edda, passage 712
[Footnote 112: The temple-priests performed the functions of priest and judge, and their office continued hereditary throughout the heathen period of Norse history.]
The Prose Edda, passage 548
Geirrod’s hall trembled When he struck, With his broad head, ’Gainst the old column of the house-wall. Uller’s splendid flatterer Swung the iron beam Straight ’gainst the head Of the knavish giant.
The Prose Edda, passage 948
“Yes, it can grind salt,” said he who owned the mill; and when the captain heard this, he was bound to have it, let it cost what it will. For if he had that, thought he, he would not have to sail far off over dangerous waters after cargoes of salt. At first the man did not wish to sell it, but the captain teased and begged and finally the man sold it, and got many thousand dollars for it. When the captain had gotten the mill on his back, he did not stay there long, for he was afraid the man might reconsider the bargain and back out again. He had no time to ask how to regulate it; he went to his ship as fast as he could, and when he had gotten some distance out upon the sea, he got his mill out.
The Prose Edda, passage 179
His wife hight Frigg, and she was the daughter of Fjorgvin, and from their offspring are descended the race that we call asas, who inhabited Asgard the old and the realms that lie about it, and all that race are known to be gods. And for this reason Odin is called Alfather, that he is the father of all gods and men, and of all things that were made by him and by his might. Jord (earth) was his daughter and his wife; with her he begat his first son, and that is Asa-Thor.
The Prose Edda, passage 103
There were twelve kingdoms and one over-king, and many lands and nations belonged to each kingdom; there were in the city twelve chief languages.[5] Their chiefs have surpassed all men who have been in the world in all heroic things. No scholar who has ever told of these things has ever disputed this fact, and for this reason, that all rulers of the north region trace their ancestors back thither, and place in the number of the gods all who were rulers of the city.
The Prose Edda, passage 957
DAIN. A dwarf. DAIN. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil. DAINSLEIF. Hogne’s sword. DAY. Son of Delling. DAYBREAK. The father of Day. DELLING. Daybreak. DOLGTHVARE. A dwarf. DORE. A dwarf. DRAUPNER. Odin’s ring. DROME. One of the fetters with which the Fenris-wolf was chained. DUF. A dwarf. DUNEY. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil. DURATHRO. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil. DURIN. A dwarf. DVALIN. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil. DVALIN. A dwarf.
The Prose Edda, passage 781
In the asa-faith we find various foreign elements introduced. Thus, for example, the vans did not originally belong to the Odinic system. As the Teutons came in contact with other races, the religious ideas of the latter were frequently adopted in some modified form. Especially do Finnish elements enter into the asa-system. The Finnish god of thunder was Ukko. He is supposed to have been confounded with our Thor, whence the latter got the name Öku-Thor (Ukko-Thor).
The Prose Edda, passage 425
56. While these things are happening, Heimdal stands up, blows with all his might in the Gjallar-horn and awakens all the gods, who thereupon hold counsel. Odin rides to Mimer’s well to ask advice of Mimer for himself and his folk. Then quivers the ash Ygdrasil, and all things in heaven and earth fear and tremble. The asas and the einherjes arm themselves and speed forth to the battle-field.
The Prose Edda, passage 943
“Would that each one of you had an hundred stomachs, but have a care that you do not drown in the gruel flood,” cried the husband. He ran by them as though the devil had been after him, and hastened down to his brother. He begged him in the name of everything sacred to come and take the mill away immediately.
The Prose Edda, passage 937
“When I keep it until then, I shall have ground food enough to last many years,” thought he.
The Prose Edda, passage 162
Then asked Ganglere: How were the races developed from him? Or what was done so that more men were made? Or do you believe him to be god of whom you now spake? Made answer Har: By no means do we believe him to be god; evil was he and all his offspring, them we call frost-giants. It is said that when he slept he fell into a sweat, and then there grew under his left arm a man and a woman, and one of his feet begat with the other a son. From these come the races that are called frost-giants. The old frost-giant we call Ymer.
The Prose Edda, passage 903
The central idea in the Odinic religion, the destruction and regeneration of the world, has taken this beautiful sun-myth of Balder into its service. Balder is then no more merely the pure holy light of heaven; he symbolizes at the same time the purity and innocence of the gods; he is changed from a physical to an ethical myth.
The Prose Edda, passage 866
They laid the lots, they ruled the life To the sons of men, their fate foretelling.
The Prose Edda, passage 547
But the battle-hastener, Freyja’s old friend, With swift hands caught In the air the beam As it flew from the hands Of the father of Greip,-- His breast with anger swollen Against Thruda’s[92] father.
The Prose Edda, passage 916
Long, long ago there were two brothers, the one was rich and the other was poor. On Christmas eve the poor one had not a morsel of bread or meat in his house, and so he went to his brother and asked him for mercy’s sake to give him something for Christmas. It was not the first time the brother had had to give him, and he was not very much pleased to see him this time either.
The Prose Edda, passage 368
Then Utgard-Loke stepped forward, bade them cease the wrestling, and added that Thor did not need to challenge anybody else to wrestle with him in his hall, besides it was now getting late. He showed Thor and his companions to seats, and they spent the night there enjoying the best of hospitality.
The Prose Edda, passage 10
But the radiant dawn follows the night. The earth, completely green, rises again from the sea, and where the mews have but just been rocking on restless waves, rich fields unplowed and unsown, now wave their golden harvests before the gentle breezes. The asas awake to a new life, Balder is with them again. Then comes the mighty Fimbultyr, the god who is from everlasting to everlasting; the god whom the Edda skald dared not name. The god of gods comes to the asas. He comes to the great judgment and gathers all the good into Gimle to dwell there forever, and evermore delights enjoy; but the perjurers and murderers and adulterers he sends to Nastrand, that terrible hall, to be torn by Nidhug until they are purged from their wickedness. This is Regeneration.
The Prose Edda, passage 153
Surt from the south fares With blazing flames; From the sword shines The sun of the war-god. Rocks dash together And witches collapse, Men go the way to Hel And the heavens are cleft.[13]
The Prose Edda, passage 124
Their son was Loride (Hloride), who was like his father; his son was Henrede; his son Vingethor (Vingthor); his son Vingener (Vingner); his son Moda (Mode); his son Magi (Magne); his son Kesfet; his son Bedvig; his son Atra, whom we call Annan; his son Itrman; his son Heremod (Hermod); his son Skjaldun, whom we call Skjold; his son Bjaf, whom we call Bjar; his son Jat; his son Gudolf, his son Fjarlaf, whom we call Fridleif; he had the son who is called Vodin, whom we call Odin; he was a famous man for wisdom and all accomplishments.