I am trying to get a good understanding of the meaning of the names of the
Norns. Can someone help me with this? I have read they mean:
Urð = Past
Verðandi = Present
Skuld = Future
I've also read Urð is cognate to weird, and thus to Verdanði. Authors have
argued that Urð means what has happened in the past. I tend to get the sense
that it means something along the lines of "the law of fate". That is, the
law which determines how the past becomes manifest in the present.
Verðandi seems to me to suggest 'becoming' but also 'happening'. It has
cognates in Indo-European languages which suggest turning in both the
physical sense of rotation, and in the sense of day turning into night. It
might be said Verðandi means what is currently happening. With a sense of
'present conditions'. I draw this from what seems to be the German cognate
'werdend', meaning 'becoming', 'getting (to be)', 'changing into'.
Skulð seems more likely to mean something along the lines of 'debt' with a
conotation of 'guilt'. I get this from both the Old Norse definition and the
German cognate meaning pretty much the same thing.
What do others think about this? I'd really like to get this right because
it is central to a larger model of Heathen concepts of fate.