Page:Norse mythology or, the religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted with an introduction, vocabulary and index.djvu/451



The word means a great-grandmother. The name usually applied to the mythological collection of poems discovered by Brynjolf Sveinsson in the year 1643. He, led by a fanciful and erroneous suggestion, gave to the book which he found the name Sæmundar Edda, Edda of Sæmund. This is the so-called Elder Edda. Then there is the Younger Edda, a name applied to a work written by Snorre Sturleson, and containing old mythological lore and the old artificial rules for verse-making. The ancients applied the name Edda only to this work of Snorre. The Elder Edda was never so called. And it is also uncertain whether Snorre himself knew his work by the name Edda. In the Rigsmál (Lay of Rig) Edda is the progenitrix of the race of thralls. An eagle that appears at Ragnarok. Egder.

The father of Thjalfe; a giant dwelling near the sea. Thor left his goats with him on his way to the giant Hymer. Egil.

[eik, oak, and þyrnir, a thorn]. A hart that stands over Odin's hall (Valhal). From his antlers drops into the abyss water from which rivers flow. Eikthyrner.


 * plural . The only (ein) or great champions; the heroes who have fallen in battle and been admitted into Valhal. Einherje.

[The word means peace, clemency.] An attendant of Menglod, and the best of all in the healing art. Eir.

One of Heimdal's nine mothers. Eistla.

[eld, fire, and hrímnir, the one producing rime]. The kettle in which the boar Sæhrimner is cooked in Valhal. Eldhrimner.

The fire-producer; a servant of Æger. Elder.

The ice-waves; poisonous cold streams that flow out of Niflheim. Elivagar.

The first woman. The gods found two lifeless trees, the ask (ash) and the embla; of the ash they made man, of the embla, woman. It is a question what kind of tree the embla was; some suggest a metathesis, viz. emla, from almr (elm), but the compound emblu-askr, in one of Egil's poems, seems