> Odin's Daughters were they not

Sæl Patricia!

Shhhhhhhh, don't tell Richard Wagnar that. But good point:
Brynhildr in Völsunga saga and elsewhere is the daughter of a king
called Buðli. From the Helgi lays: Sváfa is the daughter of a king
Eylimi, reborn as Sigrún daughter of Högni; oh, and Sinfjötli
mockingly calls Guðmundr, Granmarr´s son, a valkyrie!--but I think
that´s just his little joke... In Völsunga saga, Odin has
an 'óskmær' "wish girl" (meaning "adopted daughter"?, cf.
óskabarn, "a chosen, adopted child"; or Óski´s = Odin´s girl--this
is listed among Odin´s names by Snorri; or "girls who fulfill Odin´s
wishes", R Simeck, Dictionary of Northern Mythology), who is the
daughter of the giant Hrímnir. She has the unwarlike task of
enchanted apple-delivery, but the term is listed here as a
*possible* kenning for valkyrie:

http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/epsilon.html

So maybe she was a valkyrie too. If Hildr the daughter of Högni was
literally a valkyrie, and identical to the Hildr listed in
Grímnismál, that would be another non-Odinically-sired chooser of
the slain. True, the Hildr of Sörla þáttr is an image of passive
suffering, but older sources imply a more active valkyrie-esque role
in instigating the conflict ("Sörla þáttr..." EA Rowe, Saga Book
XXVI, 2002). Snorri comments in Gylfaginning that Skuld, "the
youngest Norn", also rides as a valkyrie.

But, just to throw the cat among the ravens (pidgeons, I mean--
ravens is a bad place to throw a cat), does anyone know of anything
in Norse that does describe valkyries as Odin´s daughters? Even if
they weren't originally, it's easy to see how kennings like 'Óðins
meyjar' "Odin´s girls" could have been interpreted that way (given
kennings like 'mær Högna' Hogni´s daughter = Hildr = valkyrie), at
least metaphorically.

One puzzling expression is 'Svarðar dóttir', apparently
meaning "war", mentioned by the grumpy prophetic merman in Hálfs
saga. It might be "daughter of the scalp" (svörðr), or daughter of
an otherwise unknown mythical or legendary person called Svörðr.
Various emendations have been suggested. Seelow says probably it´s
just a misunderstanding of other kennings involving this word that
has led someone at some point in the transmission to invent a person
called 'Svörðr', perhaps in place of an earlier expression that had
become illegible or incomprehensible (H Seelow, Hálfs saga ok
Hálfsrekka, 1981). I wrote to Eysteinn Björnsson a while back and
he offered the ingenious suggestion that maybe the poet
used 'svörðr' cryptically to stand for 'hár' "hair", a pun on Odin´s
name Hár!

With this sort of logic, it´s not such a leap from 'mær'
to 'dóttir', even if they aren´t completely synonymous. And maybe
the term 'óskmær' implied the status of honorary daughters or foster
daughters? But whether they were ever actually seen as literally
Odin´s daughters is another matter.

Llama Nom




--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia"
<originalpatricia@...> wrote:

> In my Zoega, it gives the Old Norse name as Val -kyrja and the

Definition of Chooser of the Slain / valkyrie, well thats where it
all started, Odin's Daughters were they not, I found it logical to
look in Zoega under V

> He also gives val-mær = valkyrie and valr - the slain valrauf -

plundering the slain

> there are several words beginning Val- and so many seem to be to

do with the Slain in Battle or else val- words are to do with Battle.

> Thank the Gods for Geir T. Zoëga we should have a Zoëga Day
> Patricia
> Who has by now formed the opinion that more of our words in

English relate to Old Norse that one could suspect.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: joannacmacleod
> To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 1:14 PM
> Subject: [norse_course] Axe time
>
>
>
> Was a valkyrie - what is the old Norse name for this?
>
>
>
>
>
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