Hörgr
Encyclopedia
A hörgr or hearg (Old English) was a type of religious building or altar
possibly consisting of a heap of stones, used in Norse paganism
. Hörgar are attested in the Poetic Edda
; compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda
; written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson
, saga
s, in the poetry of skald
s, the Old English poem Beowulf
, and in various place names, often in connection with Germanic deities.
says that hörgr may have originally exclusively meant "holy place", whereas the Old English noun hearg could mean "holy grove
" and/or "temple, idol".
. In a stanza early in the poem Völuspá
, the völva
says that early in the mythological timeline, the gods met together at the location of Iðavöllr and constructed a hörgr and a hof
(Henry Adams Bellows
and Ursula Dronke
here gloss
hörgr as "temples"):
In the poem Vafþrúðnismál
Gagnráðr (the god Odin
in disguise) engages in a game of wits with the jötunn Vafþrúðnir
. Gagnráðr asks Vafþrúðnir whence the Van god Njörðr came, for though he rules over many hofs and hörgar, Njörðr was not raised among the Æsir (Benjamin Thorpe
here glosses hörgr with "offer-steads" and Bellows glosses with "shrines"):
In the poem Hyndluljóð
, the goddess Freyja speaks favorably of Óttar
for having worshiped her so faithfully by using a hörgr. Freyja details that the hörgr is constructed of a heap of stones, and that Óttar very commonly reddened these stones with sacrificial blood (Thorpe glosses hörgr with "offer-stead", Bellows with "shrine", and Orchard with "altar"):
has a literal translation which combines Old Norse sal meaning "hall" with hörgar "mounds," to form "on the hall mounds," suggesting a place with a room where official meetings took place. The inscription states that the man Gunnvaldr is the þulaR
of Salhøgum, which as been identified as referring to the modern town Salløv, which was in the vicinity of the original site of the runestone.
and Scandinavia
contain the word hörgr or hörgur, such as Hörgá
and Hörgsdalur in Iceland and Harg in Sweden
. When Willibrord
christianized the Netherlands (~700 AD) the church of Vlaardingen had a dependency in Harago/Hargan, currently named Harga. This indicates that near those places there was some kind of religious building in medieval times.
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
possibly consisting of a heap of stones, used in Norse paganism
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
. Hörgar are attested in the Poetic Edda
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...
; compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; 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...
; written in the 13th century 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...
, saga
Saga
Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru...
s, in the poetry of skald
Skald
The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...
s, the Old English poem 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...
, and in various place names, often in connection with Germanic deities.
Etymology
Rudolf SimekRudolf 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...
says that hörgr may have originally exclusively meant "holy place", whereas the Old English noun hearg could mean "holy grove
Sacred grove
A sacred grove is a grove of trees of special religious importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves were most prominent in the Ancient Near East and prehistoric Europe, but feature in various cultures throughout the world...
" and/or "temple, idol".
Attestations
The term hörgr is used three times in poems collected in the Poetic EddaPoetic 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...
. In a stanza early in the poem Völuspá
Völuspá
Völuspá is the first and best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva addressing Odin...
, the völva
Völva
A vǫlva or völva is a shamanic seeress in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology....
says that early in the mythological timeline, the gods met together at the location of Iðavöllr and constructed a hörgr and a hof
Heathen hofs
Heathen hofs or Germanic pagan temples were the temple buildings of Germanic paganism; there are also a few built for use in modern Germanic neopaganism...
(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...
and Ursula Dronke
Ursula Dronke
Ursula Dronke is a medievalist and former Reader in Old Norse at the University of Oxford. She is the Emeritus Vigfússon Reader in Ancient Icelandic Literature and Antiquities and an Emeritus Fellow of Linacre College. She also formerly taught in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages at...
here gloss
Gloss
A gloss is a brief notation of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader's language if that is different....
hörgr as "temples"):
- Old Norse:
- Hittoz æsir á Iðavelli,
- þeir er hǫrg ok hof hátimbroðo.
Henry Adams Bellows Henry Adams BellowsHenry 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...
translation:At Ithavoll met the mighty gods; Shrines and temples they timbered high; Ursula Dronke translation: Æsir met on Eddying Plain they who built towering altars and temples.
In the poem Vafþrúðnismál
Vafþrúðnismál
In Norse mythology, Vafþrúðnismál is the third poem in the Poetic Edda. It is a conversation in verse form conducted initially between the Æsir Odin and Frigg, and subsequently between Odin and the giant Vafþrúðnir...
Gagnráðr (the god Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
in disguise) engages in a game of wits with the jötunn Vafþrúðnir
Vafþrúðnir
Vafþrúðnir is a wise jötunn in Norse mythology. In the Poetic Edda poem Vafþrúðnismál, Vafþrúðnir acts as both Odin's host and opponent in a deadly battle of wits, resulting in Vafþrúðnir's defeat....
. Gagnráðr asks Vafþrúðnir whence the Van god Njörðr came, for though he rules over many hofs and hörgar, Njörðr was not raised among the Æsir (Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin Thorpe was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon.-Biography:After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the...
here glosses hörgr with "offer-steads" and Bellows glosses with "shrines"):
Benjamin Thorpe translation:
- Tell me tenthly, since thou all the origin
- of the gods knowest, Vafthrudnir!
- whence Niörd came among the Æsir's sons?
- O'er fanes and offer-steads he rules by hundreds,
- yet he was not among the Æsir born.
Henry Adams Bellows translation:
- Tenth answer me now, if thou knowest all
- The fate that is fixed for the gods:
- Whence came up Njorth to the kin of the gods,—
- Though of gods he was never begot?
In the poem Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð or Lay of Hyndla is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in its entirety only in Flateyjarbók but some stanzas are also quoted in the Prose Edda where they are said to come from Völuspá hin skamma.In the poem, the goddess Freyja meets the völva...
, the goddess Freyja speaks favorably of Óttar
Óttar (mythology)
In Norse Mythology, Óttar, also known as Óttar the Simple, is a protégé of the goddess Freyja. He appeared in Hyndluljóð , a poem in the Poetic Edda. In this tale, Óttar is said to be very pious to the goddesses. He built a shrine of stones, a hörgr, and on it made many offerings to Freyja...
for having worshiped her so faithfully by using a hörgr. Freyja details that the hörgr is constructed of a heap of stones, and that Óttar very commonly reddened these stones with sacrificial blood (Thorpe glosses hörgr with "offer-stead", Bellows with "shrine", and Orchard with "altar"):
- Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin ThorpeBenjamin Thorpe was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon.-Biography:After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the...
translation:- An offer-stead to me he raised,
- with stones constructed;
- now is the stone
- as glass become.
- With the blood of oxen
- he newly sprinkled it.
- Ottar ever trusted the Asyniur
AssAss may refer to:* The mammal Equus africanus asinus better known as the Donkey** Asinus subgenus* North American English informal term for buttocks* áss, one of the Æsir in Norse mythology* Ass , by Badfinger...
.Henry Adams Bellows translation: For me a shrine of stones he made, And now to glass the rock has grown; Oft with the blood of beasts was it red; In the goddesses ever did Ottar trust. Andy Orchard translation: He made me a high altar of heaped-up stones: the gathered rocks have grown all bloody, and he reddened them again with the fresh blood of cows; Ottar has always had faith in the ásynjur.
Runestones
The place name Salhøgum that is mentioned on a 9th century Danish runestone known as the Snoldelev StoneSnoldelev Stone
The Snoldelev Stone, listed as DR 248 in the Rundata catalog, is a 9th century runestone that was originally located at Snoldelev, Ramsø, Denmark.-Description:...
has a literal translation which combines Old Norse sal meaning "hall" with hörgar "mounds," to form "on the hall mounds," suggesting a place with a room where official meetings took place. The inscription states that the man Gunnvaldr is the þulaR
Thyle
A Thyle, was a position of the court associated with Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon royalty and chieftains in the Early Middle Ages with the duty of determining truth of public statements.. Most literary references are found in Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon literature like the Hávamál, where Odin...
of Salhøgum, which as been identified as referring to the modern town Salløv, which was in the vicinity of the original site of the runestone.
Place names
Many place names in IcelandIceland
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...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
contain the word hörgr or hörgur, such as Hörgá
Eyjafjörður
Eyjafjörður is the longest fjord in central northern Iceland. It is located in the second most populous region of Iceland.-Physical geography:...
and Hörgsdalur in Iceland and Harg in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. When Willibrord
Willibrord
__notoc__Willibrord was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands...
christianized the Netherlands (~700 AD) the church of Vlaardingen had a dependency in Harago/Hargan, currently named Harga. This indicates that near those places there was some kind of religious building in medieval times.
See also
- HaugrHoweHowe from the meaning hill, knoll, or mound may refer to:*a tumulus , in particular a Bowl barrow.Places in the United Kingdom:*Howe, North Yorkshire*Howe, Norfolk*Maeshowe, Orkney*Duggleby Howe, East Yorkshire...