Tegnér's Fridthjof's Saga
Vocabulary
Page 2
Lofn. Goddess
of marriage.
Loke. The god of evil; the instigator of Balder’s death. (2)
Megingjarder. Thor’s belt of strength.
Midgard-serpent. Loke’s and Angerboda’s offspring; brother of Hel
and the Fenris-wolf. With his immense tail he encircles the whole earth.
Mimer. Owner of the fountain of wisdom at that root of Ygdrasil
which extends to Ginungagap (chaos).
Morven. the north of Scotland.
Muspelheim. Surt’s realm; world of fire, south of Ginungagap.
Muspel’s sons. The flames (cp. the daughters of Æger).
Nanna. Wife of Balder.
Nastrand. (Corpse-strand). The abode of the wicked after death.
Nidhug. A dragon forever gnawing at that root of Ygdrasil that
goes to Niflheim.
Niflheim. The nebulous world; the reign of cold and darkness north
of Ginungagap.
Norn. There are three chief norns; Urd, Verdande, and Skuld — Past,
Present, Future. there are the Fates, or Parcæ.
Odin. The chief among the Teutonic gods.
Orkneys. The Orkneys belonged for a long time to Norway, and were
favorite resort for vikings.
Ragnarok. The Twilight of the Gods; the end of the world; the last
day.
Ran. Æger’s wife; goddess of the sea.
Ring-ric. The realm of Ring, on the western border of Chrstiania-fjord.
Rota. One of the valkyries.
Rune. One of the characters of the Old Norse alphabet. the runic
alphabet has sixteen letters. F, U, Þ, O, R, K, are the first six runes;
hence the runic alphabet (a, ß) is called Futhorc. Professor George
Stephens is the most distinguished runic scholar living.
Rune-staff. Calender-stave carved with runic signs. It may be used
instead of a common almanac.
Rune-stone. A grave-stone carved with runes.
Saga. The goddess of history; the Clio of the North. She sits at
Sokvabek relating to Odin the fortunes of gods and men.
Seming. One of Odin’s sons. the historical Odin had three sons:
Skjold, whom he made king of Denark; Yngve, whom he made king of Sweden;
and Seming, whom he made king of Norway. — See Norse Mythology, p. 232-236.
Sikeley. Sicily. the Norsemen knew this country well. They conquered
it in the eleventh century, and Roger united it to Naples by the name
of the two Sicilies.
Skinfaxe. Sheen-fax (shining mane). The horse of Day. Night rides
ahead with her steed Rimfaxe, who every morn bedews the earth with the
foam of his bridle.
Skuld. The norn of the future.
Sleipnir. Odin’s eight-footed steed. Pegasos.
Sokn-sound. Between the islands Sokken and Bro, to the south of
Bukkenfjord near Stavanger in Norway.
Sokvabek. The dwelling of Saga.
Solund Isle. At the outlet of Sogn-fjord in Norway lies a group
of islands bearing this name.
Sote. A celebrated Norse freebooter.
Streitaland. the residence of king Ring.
Surt. The god of fire; the ruler of Muspelheim.
Syrstrand. the residence of king Bele and his family. It lies opposite
Framness in Sogn-fjord.
Thor. The god of strength and thunder; the son of Odin and Earth;
the slayer of giants.
Thorstein. Viking’s son. the eldest son of Viking; the father of
Fridthjof the bold.
Thrudvang. Thor’s realm.
Thing. (originally meaning talk, conference). the public meeting,
diet, assize, parliament, or wittenagemot of the Norsemen.
Tirfing. A sword fabricated by two skillful dwarfs as a ransom
for their lives. It was bright as a sunbeam; its hilt and guard were of
gold; it defied rust and fracture; would cleave iron or stone as easily
as a garment; and whether in single or banded combat, conferred victory
on the arm which wielded it; but it should also prove fatal to its original
possessor and be the instrument of three heinous crimes. the prophesy
was fulfilled.
Upland. A district in Norway comprehending the present amts of
Christian and Hedemark, together with the upper Romer-ric.
Upsala. A city and university seat north of Stockholm in Sweden,
where there was in olden times a famous temple where the followers of
Odin worshiped.
Urd. The norn of the past.
Urd’s Fountain. The fountain of time. It was situated at that root
of Ygdrasil that extends to Asgard.
Utgard. The capital of Jotunheim.
Vala. Prophetess. Her prophetic song is “Voluspá,” the first poem
in the Elder Edda. She corresponds to the souther sibyl.
Valaskjalf. Vale’s citadel and Odin’s throne.
Vale. Son of Odin and Rind.
Valfather. Father of the slain. One of Odin’s names.
Valhal. The hall of the slain. the heavenly dwelling of the gods
and the einherjes.
Valkyries. Choosers of the slain. Maids who on the field of battle
elect those who are worthy of going to Valhal.
Vanadis. The väna, i.e. fair goddess, or the goddess of
the vans (deities of the water). A surname of Freyja.
Var. The goddess of oaths.
Varg I Véum. Wolf in the sanctuary. Temple-defamer.
Vegtamskvida. The lay of the wayfarer; one of the songs of the Elder Edda, giving an account of Odin’s visit to the realm of Hel
to obtain form the vala information about Balder’s fate.
Vidar. The god of silence; one of the sons of Odin; next after
Thor the strongest of the gods.
Vifil. See “The Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son,” ch. 1.
Vigrid. The battle-field of the gods at Ragnarok; a plain stretching
an hundred miles each way.
Viking. See “The Saga of Thorstein, Viking’s Son,”ch. 3, 4.
Vingolf. The floor of friends; the hall of the goddesses in Valhal.
Volund. A finnish smith celebrated in the sagas for his great skill
in his trade. He lived a long time at the court of the grim king Nidud
in Norway. He finally freed himself from imprisonment and took vengeance
on his oppressor. He is a mythical person and corresponds to Vulcan.
White God. A surname of Balder.
Woolen Acre. Formerly a fylke-kingdom in the present province of
Vestmanland, Sweden.
Ygdrasil (Ygg’s, i.e. Odin’s bearer). A sacred tree so called
because Odin once hung in its branches. It is the world-tree. The tree
of time.
Ymer. The giant out of whose body the world was shapen.
ENDNOTES:
2. (transcriber’s note) Again this is a christianization in our view. Nothing more than an attempt at equating Loke with the kristian Satan. Back