Lodur

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Odin, Hönir and Lodur create Ask and Embla. Illustration by Lorenz Frølich , 1895

Lodur ( Old Norse Lóðurr ) is the name of a deity in Norse mythology , which is so rarely mentioned that nothing can be said for certain about the deity. It is assumed that it is either the epithet of a god or the name of an independent but otherwise unknown deity.

In Eddic literature , Lodur is only mentioned in the creation poem Völuspá . Then Odin , Hönir and Lodur walked along the beach and found Ask and Embla , from whom they created the first humans:

“Unz þrír qvómo ór því liði,
ǫflgir oc ástgir, æsir, at húsi;
fundo á landi, lítt megandi,
Asc oc Emblo, ørlǫglausa.
ǫnd þau né átto, óð þau né hǫfðo,
lá né læti né lito góða;
ǫnd gaf Óðinn, óð gaf Hœnir,
lá gaf Lóðurr oc lito góða. "

“If there were three from this meeting,
mighty ones, mild sir especially,
found
Ask and Embla on the bank without power and without determination.
They did not have soul and meaning,
neither blood nor movement nor blooming color.
Soul gave Odin, Hönir gave meaning,
blood gave Lodur and blooming color. "

- Völuspá, stanza 17 f. (Translation after Karl Joseph Simrock )

The name also appears in the dial seal . In the 10th and 12th centuries, two skalds used the Kenning Lóðurrs vinr "Lodurr's friend" for Odin.

In his Prose Edda in Gylfaginning, Snorri Sturluson performs another triad of gods who first created the world and then man: Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé . Both triads have in common that Odin is one of the gods and that they play the same role in human creation. That is why it was sometimes argued that Odin's brothers were equivalent to Hönir and Lodur. But Snorri Sturluson could have equated the creators of the world with the creators of man in order to harmonize Norse mythology. It is also possible that he didn't know what to do with the shadowy gods Hönir and Lodur. The act of the gods could have been more significant to him than their genealogical-mythical descent.

Lodur may therefore be a very old deity, whose myths had already faded so much at the time the Völuspá were written that the name was only retained in a formulaic manner in the creation story.

Lodur can also be the epithet of a deity. In the first half of the 20th century in particular, older research took the view that Lodur was an epithet of the god Loki . According to this view, the trinity Odin – Hönir – Lodur corresponded to the triad Odin – Hönir – Loki mentioned several times in the Nordic tradition. The Kenning Lodurs friend also had an analogy in the Kenning Lopts friend for Odin, with Lopt undoubtedly being an epithet Lokis. Sometimes it was also suggested that the run name Logaþore was an etymological bridge from Loki to Lodur. However, Logaþore is now more related to the old English logðor, logeþer " schemer " and "magician". Ultimately, the equation of Lodur with Loki cannot be clearly proven. In particular, speaks against the fact that the role of the giver of life could hardly fit Loki, especially since it would be his only relationship to people. Another interpretation sees Lodur as an epithet of the god Freyr . If one derives Lodur from Old Norse lód "fruit, yield", then a possible epithet of the god of fertility results.

See also

literature

  • Yvonne S. Bonnetain: The north Germanic god Loki from a literary perspective. Dissertation, University of Tübingen 2005. In: Göppinger papers on German studies. No. 733. Kümmerle, Göppingen 2006, ISBN 978-3-87452-985-3 .
  • Ludwig Rübekeil: Diachronic studies on the contact zone between Celts and Teutons. Vienna 2002, ISBN 978-3-7001-3124-3 .
  • Franz Rolf Schröder : The goddess of the primeval sea and her male partner. In: Helmut de Boor, Ingeborg Schröbler (Hrsg.): Contributions to the history of the German language and literature. Volume 1960, issue 82. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1960, pp. 221–264 (p. 247 f.)
  • Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X .
  • Jan de Vries : Old Germanic history of religion. 2 volumes. De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1970.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lieder-Edda: Völuspá, verse 17 f .. Text edition based on the Titus Project, URL: http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/germ/anord/edda/edda.htm , accessed on December 4th 2009.
  2. ^ Translation based on Karl Joseph Simrock : Die Edda (translation). Publishing house of the JG Cotta'schen Buchhandlung. Stuttgart 1876. Simrock is verse 17 f. the Völuspá .
  3. ↑ Compare Jan de Vries: Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, Volume 2: Religion der Nordgermanen. Verlag Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin-Leipzig 1937, § 322
  4. ↑ Schröder, 1960, p. 247 f.
  5. ^ Klaus Düwel: Nordendorf. § 2 Runological. In: Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - Vol. 21. 2nd edition. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 2002, ISBN 978-3-11-017272-0 , p. 276
  6. ↑ Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion, Volume 2: Religion of the North Germanic. Verlag Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin-Leipzig 1937, § 262
  7. ↑ Simek, 2006, p. 246
  8. ↑ Skeptical on this Simek, 2006, p. 246