! Assembly of The Elder Troth - Article - Reaves

What is The AET?

Contacts Database

The Assembly of The Elder Troth would like to welcome you to our website. Please click on the links to the left to enter the relevant area of our site.

Heil and welcome to the Articles section of the Assembly of The Elder Troth website. Here you can find items written by many wide and varied folk. The idea is to provide a venue for discussion, debate and education amongst the folk by giving people an individual flavour to the information provided. Every article here is the work of its' author. The Assembly of The Elder Troth DOES NOT endorse the words or anything that is found herein as being official Assembly of The Elder Troth policy, it is purely the work of the author as provided in each case, and Copyright rests with the Author, reproduction is prohibited without the authors permission.

Relevancy of Myth - by William Reaves

Is it Relevant to Question the Accepted Interpretation of the Myths? (A Brief Example)

Popular books on Norse mythology often state as fact that the giant Bergelmir saved himself from the primeval flood in a boat. This is widely accepted. Jacob Grimm states this as fact with a quick discussion of the word used for boat, Luðr, in a footnote (TM p. 559). Hilda Davidson also states it as fact, adding that it is "less convincing" and "a rather free interpretation of a verse about Bergelmir in Vafthrudnirsmal." (She goes on to question the validity of even the name Bergelmir and finds the whole idea of a norse flood myth "contradictory.") HRED, Gods and Myths in Pagan Europe p. 198.

Since there is some question in regard to this myth, let us go to the source:

Of the Bergelmir myth, Snorri says "Hann fór upp á lúðr," He climbed up on a "ludr." (Gylf. 7)

Snorri gets this idea directly from Vafthrudnirsmal 35 which says: The giant "á var lúðr of lagiðr," was laid upon "ludr."

As Snorri quotes this verse to justify his statement, we can assume it is his source. But as you can see "climbed up on" and "laid upon" are entirely different notions. One active and one passive. What did Snorri mean by "lúðr"? Most often it is related to "lur," a hollowed out log boat. Is this what the heathen poet of Vafthrudnirsmal meant?

The meaning of the word "lúðr" is questionable and a subject of debate. But it did not mean "boat." (The choices are "flour-bin" and "musical horn," unless the word is emended).

Some other examples of its use, may prove helpful. Here are two:

Skaldskaparmal 33, Snaebjorn "Island-lúðr's (eylúðrs) nine brides violently turn the grotto of the skerries out near the edge of the earth"

Groagaldr 11 "If thou come upon seas, rougher than men have known, calm and storm shall go together in lúðr and provide thee safe passage"

The word boat does not seem like a satisfactory translation in either text - yet we do see a connection to the sea, and Snaebjorn's passage suggests a mill turned by giantesses like the type found in the Grotto-song. One of the definitions of "lúðr" is a flour-bin, a millbox.

Thus, is it not relevant to question the validity of statements such as this in the popular handbooks? Many later texts like Kevin Crossley-Holland's Norse Myths, (p. 4), simply state that Bergelmir saved himself on a boat with no discussion, whatsoever. The original text reads
that Bergelmir was "laid upon "lúðr." And, as you see, a lúðr is strongly connected to the idea of a mill. The original notion therefore was probably that Bergelmir was to be ground up on a mill and used as soil, like his father and grandfather before him.

<<Reread the statements of Byggvir & Loki in Lokasenna in this light, Loki says he cannot divide food among men evenly - Byggvir is an attendant at a mill ("chattering beneath the kvern") which grinds giant flesh into soil, and the soil does not produce crops evenly.>>>

These myths express the religious beliefs and concepts of the Old Norse people. An understanding of these beliefs would certainly aid our understanding of the cultural artifacts unearthed by archeology and related social sciences. Thus, questioning accepted beliefs, when the evidence warrants such questioning, is indeed relevant to Old Norse studies.

As for the consistancy of belief among the Germanic peoples Grimm says: "the thundergod is a joint possession of Scandinavia and the rest of Teutondom" (DM, p. 181) and later speaks of "striking proof of the prevalance of ON concepts all over Teutondom," (p. 809) among other places; Tacitus also notes this. I say this simply to suggest that the current theory that the myths were disjointed and contain many contradictory elements is promoted to explain the inconsistant manner in which this mythology has previously been presented, mainly based on Snorri's texts. A new generation of scholarship may prove otherwise.

HOME | Articles Home | Top Of Page

Page maintained by Schmitt Services

Last Update: Monday, June 30, 2003