Gjöll

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Gjöll (Old Norse: Gjǫll: "the noisy, the showering") is the river of the dead on the edge of the Hel underworld in Norse mythology .

Dead river Gjöll

According to Snorri Sturluson, Gjöll rises in the Grímnismál of the Hvergelmir spring and, according to the Gylfaginning, flows as a border river along the human world Midgard and the underworld Helheim , near the Helgrind fence , before disappearing completely into the underworld. The golden bridge over the Gjallarbrú , guarded by the giantess Móðguðr (Modgud) of the Jötun family , spans the river that belongs to the Élivágar family. The hellhound Garm watches in front of the entrance to Helheim and lets all newcomers who have died of illnesses and old age pass who want to go to the Hel's realm of the dead.

Steinplatte Gjöll

According to Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning , Gjöll is also the name of a stone slab to which the Fenris Wolf is bound. He tears himself away from this at the end of the world, Ragnarok . The name may have something to do with the howling of the wolf. There is no connection with the river.

Source texts

Grímnismál

Grímnismál 28

Vina is one of the
a second Vegsvinn,
a third Þjóðnuma:
Nyt and Nöt,
Nönn and Hrönn,
Slíð and Hríð,
Sylg and Ylg,
Víð and Ván,
Vond and Strönd,
Gjöll and Leifter,
they flow to Midgard,
but from there they fall to Hel.
Vína unites
on only Vegsvinn,
þriðja Þjóðnuma,
Nyt ok Nöt,
Nönn ok Hrönn,
Slíð ok Hríð,
Sylgr ok Ylgr,
Víð ok Ván,
Vönd ok Strönd,
Gjöll ok Leiftr,
þær falla gumnum nær,
he falla til Heljar héðan.

Gylfaginning

  • Gylfaginning 4
There were many human ages before the creation of the world, when Nifelheim was created, and in the middle of Nifelheim there is a well called Hvergelmir, and from it the rivers flow that are called: Svöl, Gunnþrá, Fjörm, Fimbultul, Slíðr and Hríð, Sylgr and Ylgr, Við, Leipter; Gjöll is closest to the Helgrind.
'Fyrr var þat mǫrgum ǫldum en jǫrð var skǫpuð er Niflheimr var gǫrr, ok í honum miðjum liggr bruðr sá er Hvergelmir heitir, ok þaðan af falla þær ár, er svá heitím, okír, Gunnǫrulár Ylgr, Víð, Leiptr; Gjǫll er næst Helgrindum. '
  • Gylfaginning 49
But one can say of Hermod that he rode through the dark, deep valleys for nine days and nights, and saw nothing until he came to the river Gjöll and rode over the Gjallarbrú.
En þat er at segja frá Hermóði at hann reið níu nætr døkkva dala ok djúpa svá at hann sá ekki fyrr en hann kom til árinnar Gjallar ok reið á Gjallar brúna.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). Kröner, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-520-36801-3 , p. 131.
  2. ^ Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). Kröner, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-520-36801-3 , p. 131.