From: Lazarus Freyjasgodhi
Message: 2093
Date: 2002-09-05
----- Original Message -----
From: <hattons@...>
To: <norse_course@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 9:43 PM
Subject: [norse_course] Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld Etymology
> 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.
>
> TIA,
>
> Steven
>
>
>
>
> Sumir hafa kv i...
> ...arir spakm li.
>
> - Keth
>
> Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> norse_course-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
>