Hrímnir

Hrímnir (Old Norse: [ˈhriːmnez̠]) is a jǫtunn in Norse mythology. He is the father of Hljód.^[1]

Name

The Old Norse name Hrímnir has been translated as 'frosty',^[1] 'the one covered with hoarfrost', or 'the sooty one.' Probably intended to evoke the frost giants or hrímþursar (jǫtunn).^[2]^[3]

Attestations

In the Völsunga saga, Hrímnir is mentioned as the father of Hljóð, who is sent by Frigg as a "wish-maid" to Rerir with the apple of fertility that will provide his wife offspring.^[4] Hrímnir himself sends his daughter Hljóð to be the wife of one of the children, Völsung.^[3]

Hrímnir is listed among the jǫtnar in the þulur section of the Prose Edda.^[5]^[6]

In Hyndluljóð (32), Hrímnir is the father of Heiðr and Hrossþjófr,^[5] but that may be just for the purpose of alliteration.^[2] He is also mentioned in Skírnismál (28),^[2] probably as a typical jötunn.^[7]

In Gríms saga loðinkinna, Hrímnir is the father of the giantesses Feima and Kleima; his wife's name is Hyrja.^[8]

Theories

Scholars have argued that the story of Hrímnir in the Völsunga saga resembles that of Peredur in the Matter of Britain, and the modern folktale "The Sea-Maiden."^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b Orchard 1997, p. 90.
^ ^a ^b ^c Simek 1996, p. 159.
^ ^a ^b Quinn, p. 134.
^ Quinn, p. 131.
^ ^a ^b Siân Duke, "Kristni saga and its Sources: Some Revaluations," Saga-Book 25 (2001) 345–450, p. 396 (pdf).
^ Giants I, verse 6: online parallel edition at voluspa.org; and also among the names for a hog, verse 97, parallel edition.
^ Judy Quinn, "The Realisation of Mythological Design: The Early Generations of the Völsung Dynasty," in Ney, Agneta; Jakobsson, Ármann; Lassen, Annette (2009). Fornaldarsagaerne. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 134, note 11. ISBN 978-87-635-2579-4.
^ Heusler, Andreas; Ranisch, Wilhelm (1903). Eddica minora: Dichtungen eddischer Art aus den Fornaldarsögur und nderen Prosawerken (in German). W. Ruhfus. pp. lxxv. interprets this episode as an imitation of one in the Örvar-Oddr saga.
^ Paton, Lucy Allen (1903). Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance. Ginn. pp. 174–75, note 2.