Page:Younger Edda (Anderson, 1880).djvu/254

 Ymer is the noisy one, and his name is derived from ymja—to howl (compare also the Finnish deity Jumo, after whom the town Umea takes its name, like Odinse).

AuRGELMER, Thrudgelmer and Bergelmer express the gradual development from aur (clay) to thrud (that which is compressed), and finally to berg (rock).

YiDOLF, Yilmeide and Svarthofde are mentioned nowhere else in the mythology.

BuRE and Bor mean the bearing and the born; that is, father and son.

BoLTHORN means the miserable one, from bol = evil; and Bestla may mean that which is best. The idea then is that Bor united himself with that which was best of the miserable material at hand.

That the flood caused by the slaying of Ymer reminds us of Noah and his ark, and of the Greek flood, needs only to be suggested.

Ask means an ash-tree, and Embla an elm-tree.

While the etymology of the names in the myths are very obscure, the myths themselves are clear enough. Similar myths abound in Greek mythology. The story about Bil and Hjuke is our old English rhyme about Jack and Gill, who went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

In reference to the golden age, see Norse Mythology, pp. 182 and 197.

In the appendix to the German so-called HeroBook we are told that the dwarfs were first created