Dísir
Encyclopedia
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, a dís ("lady", plural dísir) is a ghost, spirit or deity associated with fate
Wyrd
Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English weird, which retains its original meaning only dialectally....
who can be both benevolent and antagonistic towards mortal people. Dísir may act as protective spirits of Norse clans
Norse clans
The Scandinavian clan or ætt was a social group based on common descent or on the formal acceptance into the group at a þing.-History:...
. Their original function was possibly that of fertility goddess
Fertility goddess
A fertility deity is a god or goddess in mythology associated with fertility, pregnancy, and birth. In some cases these deities are directly associated with sex, and in others they simply embody related attributes...
es who were the object of both private and official worship called dísablót
Dísablót
The Dísablót was the blót which was held in honour of the female spirits or deities called dísir , from pre-historic times until Christianization in Scandinavia. Its purpose was to enhance the coming harvest. It is mentioned in Hervarar saga, Víga-Glúms saga, Egils saga and the Heimskringla...
, and their veneration may derive from the worship of the spirits of the dead. The dísir, like the valkyrie
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...
s, norns
Norns
The Norns in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men, a kind of dísir comparable to the Fates in classical mythology....
, and vættir
Vættir
Vættir or wights are nature spirits in the Norse religion. These nature spirits divide up into 'families', including the Álfar , Dvergar , Jötnar , and even gods, the Æsir and Vanir, who are understood to be prominent families among them. The term 'families' is often translated as 'clans' or...
, are almost always referred to collectively. The North Germanic dísir and West Germanic Idisi
Idis (Germanic)
In Germanic mythology, an idis is a divine female being. Idis is cognate to Old High German itis and Old English ides, meaning 'well-respected and dignified woman.' Connections have been assumed or theorized between the idisi and the North Germanic dísir; female beings associated with fate, as...
are believed by some scholars to be related due to linguistic and mythological similarities, but the direct evidence of Anglo-Saxon and Continental German mythology is limited. The dísir play roles in Norse texts that resemble those of fylgjur, valkyrie
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...
s, and norns
Norns
The Norns in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men, a kind of dísir comparable to the Fates in classical mythology....
, so that some have suggested dísir is a broad term including the other beings.
Etymology and meaning
The basic meaning of the word dís is "goddess".It is now usually derived from the Indo-European root *dhēi-, "to suck, suckle" and a form dhīśana.
Scholars have associated the dísir with the West Germanic Idisi
Idis (Germanic)
In Germanic mythology, an idis is a divine female being. Idis is cognate to Old High German itis and Old English ides, meaning 'well-respected and dignified woman.' Connections have been assumed or theorized between the idisi and the North Germanic dísir; female beings associated with fate, as...
, seeing the initial i- as having been lost early in Old or Proto-Norse. Jacob Grimm
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy...
points out that dís Skjöldunga in the Eddic Helgakviða Hundingsbana II
Helgakviða Hundingsbana II
Völsungakviða in forna, Helgakviða Hundingsbana II or the Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane is an Old Norse poem found in the Poetic Edda...
(v. 52) is exactly parallel to ides Scildinga "Scylding queen" in Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
(l. 1168). He also suggests that Iðunn
Iðunn
In Norse mythology, Iðunn is a goddess associated with apples and youth. Iðunn is attested 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...
may be a reflex of the original form of the word. However, except for the Second Merseburg Charm
Merseburg Incantations
The Merseburg Incantations are two medieval magic spells, charms or incantations, written in Old High German. They are the only known examples of Germanic pagan belief preserved in this language...
, in which they work battle-magic, idis only occurs with the meaning "lady," sometimes "maiden." The words are not assumed to be directly related by some scholars, although the resemblance evidently led to influence on Old Norse poetic usage.
Other scholars group all female spirits and deities associated with battle under the class of idis, dis, valkyrie and other names such as sigewif
Sigewif
SígewÍf were a variety of Germanic female spirit who were believed by the scholars Jacob Grimm and John Mitchell Kemble to be similar the Idisi of the Merseburg Incantations. These were spirits who could be called on in battle. They are attested primarily in one spell or incantation from a...
(victory-women, associated by the Anglo-Saxons with a swarm of bees) and find the commonalities both linguistically and in surviving myths and magic charms sufficient cause to group together all variations on this theme from various Germanic cultures. Stories from these other cultures survive from earlier dates than the Eddas and it is dificult to conclusively construct a clear pre-Christian mythology without conjecture. However, the Germanic languages appear to have had a northward rather than southward progression from the initial contact with the speakers of Indo-European
Indo-European
Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...
languages near Denmark or Jutland H. Davidson notes a similar northward progression of mythology where elements of Proto-Germanic concepts have morphed or been combined by the time of the recording of the Icelandic sagas.
According to Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek is an Austrian Germanist and Philologian.Simek studied German literature, philosophy and Catholic theology in the University of Vienna, before becoming a librarian and a docent at the institution. He taught among others in the universities of Edinburgh, Tromsø and Sydney...
, Old Norse dís appears commonly as simply a term for 'woman,' just as Old High German itis
Idis (Germanic)
In Germanic mythology, an idis is a divine female being. Idis is cognate to Old High German itis and Old English ides, meaning 'well-respected and dignified woman.' Connections have been assumed or theorized between the idisi and the North Germanic dísir; female beings associated with fate, as...
, Old Saxon idis
Idis (Germanic)
In Germanic mythology, an idis is a divine female being. Idis is cognate to Old High German itis and Old English ides, meaning 'well-respected and dignified woman.' Connections have been assumed or theorized between the idisi and the North Germanic dísir; female beings associated with fate, as...
, and Anglo-Saxon ides
Idis (Germanic)
In Germanic mythology, an idis is a divine female being. Idis is cognate to Old High German itis and Old English ides, meaning 'well-respected and dignified woman.' Connections have been assumed or theorized between the idisi and the North Germanic dísir; female beings associated with fate, as...
, and may have also been used to denote a type of goddess. According to Simek, "several of the Eddic sources might lead us to conclude that the disir were valkyrie-like guardians of the dead, and indeed in Guðrúnarkviða
Guðrúnarkviða
Guðrúnarkviða I, II and III are three different heroic poems in the Poetic Edda with the same protagonist, Gudrun.In Guðrúnarkviða I, Gudrun finds her dead husband Sigurd...
I 19 the valkyries are even called Herjans disir 'Odin's disir'. The disir are explicitly called dead women in Atlamál
Atlamál
Atlamál in grœnlenzku is one of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda. It relates the same basic story as Atlakviða at greater length and in a different style...
28 and a secondary belief that the disir were the souls of dead women (see fylgjur
Fylgja
In Norse mythology, a fylgja is a supernatural being or creature which accompanies a person in connection to their fate or fortune...
) also underlies the landdísir
Landdísir
In Norse mythology and later Icelandic folklore, landdísir are beings who live in landdísasteinar, specific stones located in Northwestern Iceland which were treated with reverence into the 18th and 19th centuries...
of Icelandic folklore
Scandinavian folklore
Scandinavian folklore is the folklore of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Swedish speaking parts of Finland.Collecting folklore began when Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden sent out instructions to all of the priests in all of the parishes to collect the folklore of their area...
." Simek says that "as the function of the matrons was also extremely varied – fertility goddess, personal guardians, but also warrior-goddesses – the belief in the dísir, like the belief in the valkyries, norns, and matrons, may be considered to be different manifestations of a belief in a number of female (half-?) goddesses."
Dísablót
- Main article dísablótDísablótThe Dísablót was the blót which was held in honour of the female spirits or deities called dísir , from pre-historic times until Christianization in Scandinavia. Its purpose was to enhance the coming harvest. It is mentioned in Hervarar saga, Víga-Glúms saga, Egils saga and the Heimskringla...
.
There is considerable evidence that the dísir were worshipped in Scandinavia in pagan times.
Firstly, a sacrificial festival (blót
Blót
The blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples, such as the pagan Anglo-Saxons...
) honouring them, the dísablót, is mentioned in one version of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs
Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...
and in Víga-Glúms saga
Víga-Glúms saga
Víga-Glúms saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of a chieftain who kills several people and tries to cover his guilt. It is believed to have been written in the 13th century.-External links:****...
, Egils saga
Egils saga
Egils saga is an epic Icelandic saga. The oldest transcript dates back to 1240 AD. The saga is centered on the life of Egill Skallagrímsson, an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald...
and the Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
. According to Víga-Glúms saga it was held at Winter Nights
Winter Nights
Winter Nights or Old Norse Vetrnætr was a Norse winter festival that was initially celebrated in pre-Christian Scandinavia. It was said by Snorri Sturluson that Winter Nights is one of the three most important festivals. This festival also marks the end of the summer and start of the winter meaning...
(at the onset of winter). In Hervarar saga, the dísablót is also held in autumn, and is performed by a woman, the daughter of King Álfr of Álfheim, who "reddens the hörgr
Hörgr
A hörgr or hearg was a type of religious building or altar possibly consisting of a heap of stones, used in Norse paganism...
with sacrifices and is subsequently rescued by the god Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
after she has been abducted; John Lindow suggests that the passage depicts a model of heathen behaviour. In western Scandinavia, dísablót appears to have been a private observance; even the large gathering in Víga-Glúms saga was for family and friends.
In contrast, according to the Saga of St. Olaf
St. Olaf
-People:* Saint Olaf, King Olaf II of Norway* Saint Olaf of Sweden, King Olof Skötkonung-Institutions:*St. Olaf College, a private, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota*St. Olaf Choir, the a cappella choir of St. Olaf College-Places:...
in Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
, at Gamla Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala
Gamla Uppsala is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 16,231 inhabitants in 1991.As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre...
the dísablót was celebrated during the month of Gói, i.e. in late February or early March, and accompanied by a popular assembly
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
known as the Thing of all Swedes
Thing of all Swedes
The Thing of all Swedes was the governing assembly held from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages at Gamla Uppsala, Sweden, occurring at the end of February or early March in conjunction with a great fair and a pagan celebration called Dísablót...
or Dísaþing and a yearly fair. When Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
arrived, the assembly and market were moved to a Christian feast at the beginning of February:
At the time when heathendom still prevailed in Sweden, it was an old custom there that the main sacrifices were held in Uppsala in the month of Gói . . . Sacrifices were to be made at that time for peace and victory for the king, and people from all over Sweden were to resort there. At that place and time also was to be the assembly of all Swedes, and there was also a market and a fair which lasted a week. Now when Christianity was introduced, the general assembly and the market were still held there. But at present, when Christianity is general in Sweden and the kings have ceased residing at Uppsala, the market has been shifted to meet at Candlemas; . . . but now it lasts only three days. The general assembly of the Swedes is there.The name Dísaþing (now Disting
Disting
The Disting is an annual market which is held in Uppsala, Sweden, since pre-historic times. The name originally referred to the great assembly called the Thing of all Swedes, and it is derived from the fact that both the market and the thing were held in conjunction with the Dísablót, the great...
) remained in use, however, and the fair is still held every year in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
on the first Tuesday in February and may be one of the oldest in Sweden.
The stated purpose of the dísablót at Uppsala is to sacrifice for peace and victory. Norwegian places called Disin, from Old Norse Dísavin, "meadow of the dísir," and the possible relationship of the word to the Indian dhīsanas have suggested to some scholars that the dísir were fertility figures.
There are also two mentions of a hall or temple of a dís. In the Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
part of Heimskringla, Aðils
Eadgils
Eadgils, Adils, Aðils, Adillus, Aðísl at Uppsölum, Athisl, Athislus or Adhel was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century....
, the king of Sweden, dies when he rides one of his horses around the dísarsálr at the time of Dísablót and he is thrown and brains himself on a rock. In addition, it also appears in Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga
Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...
where Helga becomes so infuriated over the death of her father at the hands of Heiðrekr, her husband, that she hangs herself in the shrine.
Although Snorri Sturluson does not mention the dísir in the Prose Edda
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...
, he does list Vanadís—'dís of the Vanir
Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods and are the namesake of the location Vanaheimr . After the Æsir–Vanir War, the Vanir became a subgroup of the Æsir...
'— as a name for Freyja, and öndurdís—'snow-shoe dís'—as a name for Skaði
Skaði
In Norse mythology, Skaði is a jötunn and goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains...
. Lotte Motz
Lotte Motz
Lotte Motz, born Lotte Edlis, was an Austrian-American scholar who published four books and many scholarly papers, primarily in the fields of Germanic mythology and folklore.-Life:-...
suggested that dís was the original Old Norse word for 'goddess' and had been replaced later by ásynja, which is simply the feminine of áss
Æsir
In Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in Norse paganism. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir...
.
Relationship to other female figures
In many texts, the dísir are equated to or seem to play the same role as other female figures.In Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls
Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls
Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls or Þiðranda þáttr Síðu-Hallssonar is a short tale preserved within the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason in Flateyjarbók...
, the youth Þiðrandi is killed by dísir dressed in black, riding black horses, while a troop of dísir dressed in white and riding white horses are unable to save him. The two groups represent the struggle between heathenry and Christianity. The benevolent dísir here play the role of tutelary spirits associated with a family, and Thorhall the Prophet explains them as fylgjur. The dísir are also referred to as if they are, or include, protective fylgjur in an exchange of verses in Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka
Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka
Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka or Hálfssaga is a legendary saga composed in the early 14th century. It is about Halfr who was one of Norway's most famous legendary sea-kings.His champions had to submit to harsh rules...
. Útsteinn quarrels with Úlfr at the court of King Eysteinn of Denmark, saying he believes "our dísir" have come with him, armed, to Denmark; Úlfr replies that he thinks all the dísir of Útsteinn and his men are dead and their luck run out.
In Helgakviða Hundingsbana I
Helgakviða Hundingsbana I
Völsungakviða, Helgakviða Hundingsbana I or the First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane is an Old Norse poem found in the Poetic Edda...
, when the hero Helgi Hundingsbane
Helgi Hundingsbane
Helgi Hundingsbane is a hero in Norse sagas. Helgi appears in Volsunga saga and in two lays in the Poetic Edda named Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and Helgakviða Hundingsbana II. The Poetic Edda relates that Helgi and his mistress Sigrún were Helgi Hjörvarðsson and Sváva of the Helgakviða...
first meets the valkyrie Sigrún
Sigrún
Sigrún is a valkyrie in Norse mythology. Her story is related in Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, in the Poetic Edda...
, the poet calls her a "dís of the south"; Henry Adams Bellows rendered this simply "the southern maid".
The dísir are also equated with or play the role of norns. They give an impression of great age, but by the time of our texts, their significance had become blurred and the word had lost almost all distinct meaning.
Accordingly, some scholars have argued that dísir may be the original term for the valkyrie
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...
s (lit. "choosers of the slain"), which in turn would be a kenning
Kenning
A kenning is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry...
for dís. As opposed to valkyrja and norn, the term dís never appears in the Prose Edda
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...
by Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
. As stated above, dís has been regarded as cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
with Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
itis, Old Saxon
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in the Netherlands by Saxon peoples...
idis and the Anglo-Saxon
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
ides, all meaning "lady",; and idisi appears as the name of the valkyries in the only surviving pagan source from Germany, the Merseburg Incantations
Merseburg Incantations
The Merseburg Incantations are two medieval magic spells, charms or incantations, written in Old High German. They are the only known examples of Germanic pagan belief preserved in this language...
(see below). Dís also had the meaning "lady" in Old Norse poetry
Old Norse poetry
Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in Old Norse, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century...
as in the case of Freyja whose name itself means "lady" (frawjō) and who is called Vanadís ("lady of the vanir
Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods and are the namesake of the location Vanaheimr . After the Æsir–Vanir War, the Vanir became a subgroup of the Æsir...
"). Adding to the ambiguous meaning of dís is the fact that just like supernatural women were called dísir in the sense "ladies", mortal women were frequently called by names for supernatural women, as noted by Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
in Skáldskaparmál
Skáldskaparmál
The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined...
:
The name dís appears in several place names in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Sweden. Moreover, it was a common element in girls' names as evidenced on runestones, and it still is in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
.
The word appears as a first element in Old High German female given names such as Itispuruc and Itislant. More frequent are Old Norse given names such as Thórdís, Hjördís, Ásdís, Vigdís, Halldís, Freydís.
Old Norse sources
Kenning
A kenning is a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry...
s.
The eddic poem
Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...
Hamðismál
Hamðismál
The Hamðismál is a poem which ends the heroic poetry of the Poetic Edda, and thereby the whole collection.Gudrun had been the wife of the hero Sigurd, whom her brothers had killed. With Sigurd she had had the daughter Svanhild, who had married to the Goth king Ermanaric...
deals with how Hamðir and Sörli
Jonakr's sons
Hamdir, Sörli and Erp were three brothers in Norse mythology, who have a historic basis in the history of the Goths.-Legend:...
go to the Gothic king Ermanaric
Ermanaric
Ermanaric was a Greuthungian Gothic King who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled an enormous area north of the Black Sea. Contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus recounts him as a "most warlike man" who "ruled over extensively wide and fertile regions"...
to exact vengeance for the cruel death of their half-sister Svanhild
Svanhild
Svanhild is the beautiful daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun in Germanic mythology, whose grisly death at the hands of her jealous royal husband Ermanaric was told in many northern European stories, including the Icelandic Poetic Edda , Prose Edda and the Volsunga Saga; the Norwegian Ragnarsdrápa; the...
. On the way, they kill their reluctant brother Erpr. Knowing that he is about to die at the hands of the Goths, Sörli talks of the cruelty of the dísir who incited him to kill Erpr, who would have cut off the head of Ermanaric and made their expedition successful. In this poem, dísir appears as a synonym of norn and the translator Henry Adams Bellows
Henry Adams Bellows
Henry Adams Bellows was a lawyer, state legislator, and jurist born in Rockingham, Vermont. He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives from Littleton, New Hampshire in 1839. He was subsequently elected again to the House from Concord, New Hampshire in 1856–1857, and served as...
simply translates dísir as norns:
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|
In Grímnismál
Grímnismál
Grímnismál is one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in the Codex Regius manuscript and the AM 748 I 4to fragment. It is spoken through the voice of Grímnir, one of the many guises of the god Odin, who is tortured by King Geirröth...
, the wise Grímnir (Odin) predicts king Geirröðr's death, which he attributes to the wrath of the dísir. Again, dísir is used as a synonym for the norns:
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In Reginsmál
Reginsmál
Reginsmál or Sigurðarkviða Fáfnisbana II is an Eddic poem, found in the Codex Regius manuscript...
, the unmarried girl Lyngheiðr is called dís ulfhuguð (dís/lady with the soul of a wolf) as an insult. Later in the same poem, there is a stanza, where the dísir appear as female spirits accompanying a warrior in order to see him dead in battle, a role where they are synonymous with valkyries:
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An additional instance where dís is synonymous with valkyrie is the skaldic poem Krákumál
Krákumál
Krákumál or the Lay of Kraka is a skaldic poem, consisting of a monologue in which Ragnar Lodbrok is dying in Ælla's snake pit and looks back at a life full of heroic deeds. It was composed in the 12th century, "almost certainly" in the Scottish islands...
– composed by Ragnarr Loðbrók
Ragnar Lodbrok
Ragnar Lodbrok was a Norse legendary hero from the Viking Age who was thoroughly reshaped in Old Norse poetry and legendary sagas.-Life as recorded in the sagas:...
while awaiting his death in a snake pit. It features the line: Heim bjóða mér dísir (the dísir invite me home), as one of several poetic circumscriptions for what awaits him.
One source seems to describe the Dísir as the ghosts or spirits of dead women. In Atlamál
Atlamál
Atlamál in grœnlenzku is one of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda. It relates the same basic story as Atlakviða at greater length and in a different style...
, believed to have been written in Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
in the 12th century, the character Glaumvör warns her husband Gunnar
Gunnar
Gunnar is a male first name of Nordic origin The name Gunnar means fighter, soldier and attacker . Gunder is a Danish variant, Günther is the modern German variant...
that she had a dream about the Dísir. Some of the surrounding text has been lost and it is not known what Gunnar
Gunnar
Gunnar is a male first name of Nordic origin The name Gunnar means fighter, soldier and attacker . Gunder is a Danish variant, Günther is the modern German variant...
may have said prior to this, and there is disagreement on which stanza number this should be given. A possible translation of the material is given as follows by John Lindow in his 2001 book Norse Mythology:
- "I thought dead women
- came hither into the hall,
- not poorly decked out.
- They wished to choose you,
- would've invited you quickly
- to their benches;
- I declare of no value
- these dísir to you."