Editing Gná and Hófvarpnir (section)

==Theories==
[[File:Frigg And Her Maidens.jpg|thumb|Frigg sends Gná, riding on Hófvarpnir, on an errand in ''Frigg and her Maidens'' (1902).]]
[[Rudolf Simek]] says that the [[etymology]] that Snorri presents in ''Gylfaginning'' for the name ''Gná'' may not be correct, yet it is unclear what the name may otherwise mean, though Gná has also been etymologically theorized as a "goddess of fullness."<ref name=SIMEK113>Simek (2007:113).</ref> [[John Lindow]] calls the verse exchange between the Vanir and Gná "strange" and points out that it's unclear why it should specifically be the Vanir that witness Gná flying through the air.<ref name=LINDOW147>Lindow (2001:147).</ref>

Ulla Loumand cites Hófvarpnir and the eight-legged horse [[Sleipnir]] as "prime examples" of horses in Norse mythology as being able to "mediate between earth and sky, between [[Ásgarðr]], [[Miðgarðr]] and [[Útgarðr]] and between the world of mortal men and the underworld."<ref name=LOUMAND133>Loumand (2006:133).</ref> In the 19th century, [[Jacob Grimm]] proposed a cognate in the personified [[rumor]] in [[Roman mythology]]; [[Pheme|Fama]]. However, Grimm notes that unlike Fama, Gná is not described as winged but rather that Hófvarpnir, like the winged-horse [[Pegasus]], may have been.<ref name=GRIMM1883>Grimm (1883:896—897).</ref>