Dvalin (dwarf)

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Freyja in the dwarfs' cave. Illustration by Louis Huard , 1891

Dvalin , also Dvalinn or Dwalin (n) , is a dwarf in Norse mythology , whose name is one of the dwarf names most frequently mentioned in the Edda. He is one of the four blacksmiths who created the Brisingamen , the collar of the goddess Freyja .

swell

Dvalin is mentioned twice in the Völuspá in the Dverga valley . On the one hand as an earth dwarf, and on the other hand as the leader of their own group of dwarfs who strived from the stones in the depths of the earth to the surface.

"Mál er, dverga í Dvalins liði
lióna kindom til Lofars telia,
þeir er sótto frá salar steini
Aurvanga siǫt til Iorovalla."

"It's time
to enumerate the dwarfs from Dwalinn's company to Lofarr ,
who went from the stones of the ground
to Aurwangar's seat, to Jöruwellir ."

- Völuspá 14

In its version of the Dverga Valley, the Prose Edda lists Dvalin as only one of the dwarfs who live in the earth. She doesn't mention Dvalin or any other dwarf as a dwarf leader.

After the song Havamál , Dvalin taught the dwarves the rune-lore .

"Rúnar munt þú finna oc ráðna stafi,
[…]
oc gorðo ginregin
oc travels hroptr rǫgna,

Óðinn með ásom,
enn fyr álfom Dáinn,
Dvalinn dvergom fyrir,
Ásviðr iotnom
fyriá.",

“You will find runes and readable staffs,
[…]
and created the high advisers
and the Hropt scratched the advisors.

Odin with the Aesir ,
but with the albums Dainn ,
Dwalinn with the dwarfs,
Alswid with the giants,
I scratched some myself. "

- Havamál 142 f.

Dvalin is also mentioned as the father of some Norns, as the song Fáfnismál expresses.

“Sundrbornar mioc segi ec at nornir sé,
eigoð þær ætt saman;
sumar ero áskungar,
sumar álfkungar,
sumar dotr Dvalins. "

“The Norns are of very different origins, I say,
they are not of the same sex;
some come from the sir,
some from albums,
some are daughters of Dwalinn. "

- Fáfnismál 13

The best-known surviving myth about Dvalin is described in Sörla þáttr , a short story that belongs to the manuscript of Flateyjarbók , which was written at the end of the 14th century.

"Þat var an dag, he Freyju varð gengit til steinsins, hann var þá opinn. Dvergarnir váru at smíða eitt gullmen. Þat var þá mjök fullgert. Freyju does vel á menit. Dvergunum does ok vel á Freyju. Hún falaði menit at dvergunum, bauð í móti gull ok silfr ok aðra góða gripi. Þeir kváðust ekki féþurfi, sagðist hverr vilja sjálfr sinn part selja í meninu ok ekki annat fyrir vilja hafa en hún lægi sína nótt hjá hverjum þeira. Ok hvárt sem hún lét at þessu komast betr eða verr, þa keyptu þau þessu. Ok at liðnum fjórum náttum ok enduðum öllum skildaga, afhenda þeir Freyju menit. Fór hún heim í skemmu sína ok lét kyrrt yfir sér, sem ekki hefði í orðit. "

- Sörla Þàttur 1, paragraph 3

Then the goddess Freyja watched the four dwarfs Álfrigg , Dvalin, Berlingr and Grérr in a rock as they forged a gold collar. Freyja offered the dwarves gold and silver for the jewelry, but they were not interested. They explained that everyone would transfer their share of the collar to Freyja if she shared the camp with him for one night. Freyja agreed to do so and in this way acquired the precious necklace.

Dvalin's name is also used in Kenningar . The song Alvíssmál calls the sun Dvalins leica 'Dvalins Mitspielerin', as does the song Forspjallsljóð (Hrafnagaldr Óðins) , which she describes as leik Dvalins . The Skaldemet was sometimes also called Dvalin's full 'Dvalin's drink' in Skaldic poetry .

reception

Even if it is not mentioned by name, it is assumed that the collar is a Brísingame. The term 'Dvalin's fellow player' for the sun probably refers to the fact that, according to Nordic belief, sunlight was fatal for the dwarfs, compare the end of the dwarf Alviss in the song Alvíssmál . The Kenning 'Dvalin's Drink' alludes to the fact that the artifact once belonged to the dwarves. One can also assume that Dvalin was not considered the father of some Norns. The context of the text shows that his name was representative of the dwarf people.

From the frequent use of Dvalin's name and the way in which it was used, it can be inferred that, unlike most other dwarves, he was one of the common figures in Norse mythology.

However , it is not known whether there is a connection to the deer of the same name on the world tree Yggdrasil .

The name Dvalins, old Norse Dvalinn , means either 'the slow one' or 'the sleeping one'. In older research it was still assumed that the name refers to a long (winter) sleep.

Impact history

British author JRR Tolkien used the name Dwalin for a dwarf in his novel The Hobbit (1937).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Lieder-Edda: Völuspá 11 in connection with Völuspá 10
  2. Lieder-Edda: Völuspá 14th text edition based on Titus Projekt, (online) , accessed on November 19, 2009.
  3. a b c Translation after Arnulf Krause: The songs of gods and heroes of the Elder Edda. Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-15-050047-8 .
  4. ^ Prose Edda: Gylfaginning 14
  5. Lieder-Edda: Havamál 142 f. Text edition based on the Titus Project, (online) , accessed on November 19, 2009.
  6. One of Odin's surnames, see list of Odin's surnames
  7. The counselors are the gods.
  8. Lieder-Edda: Fáfnismál 13th text edition after Titus Projekt, (online) , accessed on November 19, 2009.
  9. Sörla Þàttur 1, paragraph 3. Text output according to CyberSamurai, (online) ( Memento of the original from January 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 19, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cybersamurai.net
  10. Lieder-Edda: Alvíssmál 17.
  11. Forspjallsljóð (Hrafnagaldr Óðins) 24
  12. Lieder-Edda: Alvíssmál 35
  13. John Lindow (2001) p. 99.
  14. Compare John Lindow (2001) p. 99.
  15. ^ Rudolf Simek: Middle Earth: Tolkien and Germanic mythology. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-52837-6 , p. 62; Jan de Vries: Old Norse Etymological Dictionary . 2nd Edition. Brill Archive, 1962, p. 88 put Dvalin in Norwegian dvalen 'lazy, sleepy'. Approving Edgar C. Polomé: Notes on the dwarfs in Germanic tradition. In: Einar Ingvald Haugen, Einar Haugen, Stig Eliasson, Ernst Håkon Year: Language and Its Ecology: Essays in Memory of Einar Haugen. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1997, ISBN 3-11-014688-6 , p. 443. For 'the slow one': Andy Orchard: Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London 1998, ISBN 0-304-35134-2 , p. 190: "dawdler" and also Lindow (2001), p. 99: "delayed".
  16. ^ Edgar C. Polomé: Notes on the dwarfs in Germanic tradition. In: Einar Ingvald Haugen, Einar Haugen, Stig Eliasson, Ernst Håkon Year: Language and Its Ecology: Essays in Memory of Einar Haugen. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1997, ISBN 3-11-014688-6 , p. 443.