Blainn

Blainn ( Old Norse Bláinn ) is a term in Norse poetry that was also used for mythical beings. It was used both as a paraphrase for the ancient giant Ymir and for dwarves . The word could also be used to describe non-mythical things, such as a part of the sky.

Bláinn is a derivative of Old Norse blár "blue, dark, black". One translates the mythical names as "the dark-colored one", "blue corpse" or "the blue one".

The term can only be found in the texts of Eddic poetry in the Völuspá :

"Þá gengo regin ǫll á rǫcstóla,
Ginnheilog goð, oc um þat gættuz,
hverr scyldi dverga dróttin scepia,
ór Brimis blóði oc ór Bláins leggiom."

"Then all the counselors went to the judgment seat,
the holy gods, and deliberated
who should create the people of the dwarves
from Brimir's blood and Blainn's bones."

- Völuspá 9

The phrase "from Brimir's blood and Blainn's bones" seems to allude to the fact that the gods created the sea and the mountains from Ymir's blood and bones, as two other songs of the Edda songs , the Grimnismál and the Vafþrúðnismál , pass on. Accordingly, the phrase stands for the ancient giant Ymir. It is assumed that Bláinn could be used as a paraphrase for the giant, because according to the two songs the sky was created from his skull - and with it the blue of the sky.

In the Þulur , Bláinn is cited as Heiti for dwarf . That is, a poet could use Bláinn as an alternate word for dwarf . In it you can see the name of an unknown dwarf.

See also

• Germanic creation story
• Ymir

literature

• John Lindow: Handbook of Norse Mythology. ABC-CLIO Ltd, USA 2001, ISBN 978-1-57607-217-2 . Online excerpt .
• Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Jan de Vries: Old Norse Etymological Dictionary. 2nd Edition. Brill Archive, p. 42
2. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Krause: Runes. 2nd Edition. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 1993, ISBN 978-3-11-014042-2 , p. 120
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Simek (2006), p. 54
4. ^ Walter Baetke: Dictionary of Norse prose literature. 1st & 2nd edition. In digital version, Greifswald 2006, p. 56: blár = blue, dark blue, dark, black
5. ^ Andy Orchard: Cassell dictionary of Norse myth and legend . Cassell, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-304-35134-3 , p. 190: "blue-corpse"
6. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völsupá 9th text edition based on Titus Projekt, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on December 4, 2009.
7. ^ Translation after Arnulf Krause: The songs of gods and heroes of the Elder Edda. Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-15050-047-7 .
8. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Vafþrúðnismál 20 f .; Grimnismál 40
9. ↑ ^{a b} Lindow (2001), p. 82
10. ↑ Þulur III 40 - Dverga heiti, stanza 1