Dagr

"Dagr" (1874) by Peter Nicolai Arbo.

For other uses of Dagr and Dagur, see [[:Dagr (disambiguation)]].

In Norse mythology, Dagr (Old Norse "day") is day personified. This personification appears in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Dagr is the stated as the son of the god Dellingr, and is associated with the bright-maned horse Skinfaxi, who "draw[s] day to mankind". The Prose Edda adds that Dagr is the son of Dellingr and Nótt, the personified night. Otherwise, Dagr appears as a common noun simply meaning "day" throughout Old Norse works. Connections have been proposed been Dagr and other similarly-named figures in Germanic mythology.

Attestations

Poetic Edda

Dagr is mentioned in stanzas 12 and 25 of the poem Vafþrúðnismál. In stanza 24, the god Odin (disguised as "Gagnráðr") asks the jötunn Vafþrúðnir from where the day comes, and the night and its tides. In stanza 25, Vafþrúðnir responds:

Delling hight he who the day's father is,

but night was of Nörvi born;

the new and waning moons the beneficient powers created,

to count the years for men.

In stanza 12, the horse Skinfaxi, his mane gleaming, is stated by Vafþrúðnir as "drawing day to mankind".

Prose Edda

In the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Dagr is again personified. In chapter 10, the enthroned figure of High states that Dagr is the son of the couple of Delling, of the Æsir, and his wife Nótt. Dagr is described as "as bright and beautiful as his father's people". Odin took Dagr and his mother Nótt, gave them each a chariot and a horse — Dagr receiving the horse Skinfaxi, whose mane illuminates all the sky and the earth — and placed them in the sky to ride around the earth every 24 hours.

Dagr is again personified in chapter 24 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, where he is stated as a brother of Jörð. As a common noun, Dagr appears in chapter 58, where "Skinfaxi or Glad" is stated as pulling forth the day, and chapter 64, where Dagr is stated as one of various words for time.

Theories

Dagr has been theorized as related to (or as the same figure) as the hero Svipdagr (whose name means "the suddenly dawning day") who is attested in various texts, including two poems compiled together and known as Svipdagsmál in the Poetic Edda, the Prologue to the Prose Edda, as Swæfdæg in the mythical genealogies of the Anglian houses of Anglo-Saxon England, and elsewhere. Theories have been proposed that Svipdagr may have been a "Dagr of the Suebi", and that, due to the names of his family members, Sólbjartr ("the sun-light", indicating a potential god of the skies) and Gróa ("growth", indicating a possible goddess of growth), and his wooing of Menglöð (often identified with the goddess Freyja), Svipdagr may have been a fertility god.

See also

• Dagaz, the d rune.
• Dag the Wise

References

• Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2006). The Prose Edda. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0140447555
• Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). Edda. Everyman. ISBN 0-4608-7616-3
• Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.) (1999). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0192839462
• Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0
• Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0859915131
• Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson. Norrœna Society.