Hi Runadis & Imre,

I've been informed that ON 'valr' is related not to 'val' "choice",
but rather to Latin 'vellere' (3rd conjugation) "pluck, pull, tear
at, tear away, tear out; tear up/down, destroy".  So I suppose the
nearest Modern English relation to the first element in 'valkyrja'
could be the Latin derived "convulse"!

Here's what Jakob Grimm had to say about valkyries.  This is the
source of those Gothic and OHG reconstructions.

http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/016_05.php
http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/index.php

Re. '�skmeyjar', Snorri, in explaining the name Valf��r, says in
Gylfaginning that Odin's '�skasynir' "adopted sons" are "all those
who fall in battle" (allir �eir er � val falla).  W�lcyrigean
eagan "valkyrie eyes" is a curious expression from an OE gloss.  I
wonder if there�s a connection with Svanhild�s gaze that needs to be
hidden before the horses can trample her, or with Gl�m�s fearsome
gaze that hypnogogically haunts Grettir.

HR Ellis Davidson in "Gods and Myths of Northern Europe" mentions
the OE form glossing both supernatural creatures and human witches,
and suggests a connection with the old woman called the "Angel of
Death" who officiates at the Russ chief's funeral in Ibn Fadlan's
famous description.  This was actually the only bit of the film The
13th Warrior that I found really effective, maybe because it
involved action in the distance, a rare thing in action-adventure
type films.

Rudolf Simek (Dictionary of Northern Mythology / Lexikon der
germanischen Mythologie) characterises valkyries as "originally
probably demons of the dead...the surviving OE texts show little
understanding of the Norse concept...  The original concept was
superceded by the shield-girls - Irish female warriors who lived on
like the einherjar in Valhall.  As a result of this shift in
concept, they became a popular element in heroic poetry where they
lost to a great extent their demonic characteristics and became more
human..."

(This is ambiguous.  Presumably it means that the concept of warrior
women is also found in Old Irish literature.  I'm not aware of of
any Old Norse sources characterising the valkyries as "Irish"!)

That the surviving OE texts show "little understanding of the Norse
concept" is hardly surprising given that there are no comprehensive
descriptions of English mythology.  I don't know if there is any
evidence for these ideas about a change over time from a negative t
to a more positive image of valkyries.  HR Ellis Davidson mentions
the Hadrian Wall inscriptions, commissioned by Frisian soldiers,
late 2nd c., and dedicated to two goddesses called the Alaisiagae:
Baudihillie and Friagabi, adding "These names have been interpreted
as "ruler of battle" and "giver of freedom", and they would be
suitable ones for Valkyries to bear."  But the same could be said
for a lot of Germanic female names.

> what seems to be a common link to me
> is that they are all women with power in the aereas of masculine
action.

Yes, we could see them as beings towards the human end of a scale
that includes fylgjur, d�sir and nornir.  In V�lsunga saga and the
Helgi lays it seems that the success of a male hero depends on the
decision of a valkyrie.  In this way they overlap with the norns,
but have some more human characteristics.  Maybe the difference is
that Valkyries often make choices in these legends based on what
they want (cf. Grimm's comments on the verbs �r� and f�sast; Imre
mentioned the German word 'Willk�r', which seems quite apt: the
valkyries are sometimes quite arbitrary in their whims, as might be
expected of personifications of a warrior's luck or fate), whereas
the norns are inscrutable, as if representing inexorable fate rather
than wild chanciness.

There is also an overlap with these valkyrie characters, elves, and
entirely human women.  A lot of plot in V�lsunga saga and Hr�lfs
saga kraka revolves around women in situations of apparent
powerlessness, but still prophetically confident of their ability to
shape the fates of kings and heroes.  In the latter variations on
the formula "it�s for you to decide", or "I suppose the decision is
in your hands, this time..." is spoken on three separate occasions
by women who are about to be abused.  And each time, as well as
being a statement of subtle defiance and heroism, it signals that
something bad will eventually happen as a result of the crime,
either to the perpetrator or their offspring.  There is an
interesting discussion of parallelism in V�lsunga saga in Manuel
Aguirre's article "Narrative Composition in the Saga of the
Volsungs" (Saga Book XXVI, 2002), where for example he looks at the
recurring motif of a hero being given a symbolic drink by a woman,
which in some way represents his fate, for better or worse--which is
reminiscent of the image of valkyries.  By contrast, the two Hervors
in Hervarar saga (not called valkyries) have a more independent
role, being warriors and heroes in their own right rather than mere
representations of a male hero�s fate.

In each of these stories, some of the most powerful drama I reckon
comes from the moments of tension between the humanness of the
characters and their ritualistic archetypal role, as they act out
feuds and warrior carreers.  E.g. it comes as a bit of a shock in
Hrolf, when we suddenly find the sensitive and innocent Yrsa caught
up in this vicious game of tit-for-tat her parents are playing.  As
Manuel Aguirre points out, things happen not for psychological
reasons, as because it�s part of the story pattern that they have to
occur.  I guess these patterns are like legendary genetics.  But
then, having accepted that, you do start to see all this psychology
poking through the ritual.  It doesn�t stop the characters from
liking or disliking, getting hurt, or occasionally having fun.  No
doubt the real reason Sign� chooses to burn with her husband Siggeir
(whose death she has engineered ruthlessly over a course of years)
is because this is the dramatic convention, but still it�s hard not
to read psychology into it, and some really dark stuff at that.

Llama Nom





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