Editing Ymir (section)

==Reception==
===Lost sources===
As ''Gylfaginning'' presents a cohesive narrative that both quotes stanzas from various poems found in the ''Poetic Edda'' (as outlined above) as well as contains unique information without a provided source (such as [[Auðumbla]]); scholars have debated to what extent Snorri had access to outside sources that no longer survive and to what extent he synthesized a narrative from the material he had access to.<ref name=Turville-Petre-1964/>{{rp|pages=276–277}}<ref name=Davidson-1990/>{{rp|page=199}}

Regarding the situation, scholar [[Gabriel Turville-Petre]] comments (1964) that "at the beginning, according to Snorri's text of the poem, there was nothing but a void, although according to other texts, the giant Ymir existed already then. Considering how Ymir (Aurgelmir) was said to have taken shape, both Snorri and the ''Vafþrúðnismál'', we may think that Snorri followed the better version of Vǫluspá" and, regarding Snorri's account of the cosmogenesis in general, that "from these sketches of the poetic sources from which he chiefly drew it is obvious that Snorri described several incidents which cannot be traced to them, at least in their extant forms". [[Gabriel Turville-Petre|Turville-Petre]] cites Snorri's account of Auðumbla as a prime example, noting Indo-European parallels ([[Persia]]n and [[Vedic]]) and an [[Egyptian mythology|Egyptian]] parallel in the Egyptian goddess [[Hathor]].<ref name=Turville-Petre-1964/>{{rp|pages=276–277}}

[[Hilda Ellis Davidson|H.R.E. Davidson]] (1964) comments that "the original form of the creation myth in the north is not easy to determine. Snorri knew of at least three separate accounts".<ref name=Davidson-1990/>{{rp|page=198}}

===Tuisto, parallels, and Proto-Indo-European religion===
{{See also|Proto-Indo-European mythology#Brothers}}

In the 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;CE, Roman historian [[Tacitus]] writes in his [[ethnography]] ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' that the Germanic peoples sang songs about a primeval god who was born of the Earth named ''[[Tuisto]]'', and that he was the progenitor of the Germanic peoples. ''Tuisto'' is the Latinized form of a [[Proto-Germanic]] [[theonym]] that is a matter of some debate. By way of [[historical linguistics]] some scholars have linked ''Tuisto'' to the Proto-Germanic theonym *''[[Tiwaz]]'', while other scholars argue that the name refers to a "two-fold"  or [[hermaphrodite|hermaphroditic]] being (compare [[Old Swedish]] ''tvistra'', meaning "separate"). The latter etymology has led scholars to a connection to Ymir on both linguistic and mythographic grounds.<ref name=Davidson-1990/>{{rp|page=199}}

By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, scholars have linked Ymir to other primordial, sometimes hermaphroditic or twin beings in other Indo-European mythologies and have reconstructed elements of a Proto-Indo-European cosmological dissection. Citing Ymir as a prime example, scholars [[Douglas Q. Adams|D.Q. Adams]] and [[J. P. Mallory|J.P. Mallory]] comment that "the [Proto-Indo-European] cosmogonic myth is centered on the dismemberment of a divine being – either anthropomorphic or bovine – and the creation of the universe out of its various elements". Further examples cited include the climactic ending of the [[Old Irish]] ''[[Táin Bó Cúailnge]]'' where a bull is dissected that makes up the Irish geography, and apparently [[Christianization|Christianized]] forms of the myth found in the [[Old Russian]] ''[[Dove Book|Poem of the Dove Book]]'' ([[:ru:Голубиная книга|Голубиная книга]]), the Frisian ''[[Frisian Code of Emsig]]'', and Irish {{nowrap|manuscript BM MS 4783, folio 7a.}} Other examples given include [[Ovid]]'s 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE to 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE [[Latin]] ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' description of the god [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]'s beard and hair becoming forests, his bones becoming stone, his hands mountain ridges, and so forth; the 9th century AD [[Middle Persian]] ''[[Škend Gumānīg Wizār]]'', wherein the malevolent being Kūnī's skin becomes the sky, from his flesh comes the earth, his bones the mountains, and from his hair comes plants; and the 10th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE [[Old Indic]] ''[[Purusha sukta]]'' from the ''[[Rig Veda]]'', which describes how the primeval man [[Purusha sukta#Purusha|Purusha]] was dissected; from his eye comes the sun, from his mouth fire, from his breath wind, from his feet the earth, and so on. Among surviving sources, Adams and Mallory summarize that "the most frequent correlations, or better, derivations, are the following: Flesh = Earth, Bone = Stone, Blood = Water (the sea, etc.), Eyes = Sun, Mind = Moon, Brain = Cloud, Head = Heaven, Breath = Wind".<ref name=Adams=Mallory-1997/>{{rp|page=129}}

Adams and Mallory write that "In both cosmogonic myth and the foundation element of it, one of the central aspects is the notion of sacrifice (of a brother, giant, bovine, etc.). The relationship between sacrifice and cosmogony was not solely that of a primordial event but the entire act of sacrifice among the Indo-Europeans might be seen as a re-creation of the universe where elements were being continuously recycled.  ... Sacrifice thus represents a creative re-enactment of the initial cosmic dismemberment of a victim and it helps return the material stuff to the world".
<ref name=Adams=Mallory-1997/>{{rp|page=130}}

===Other===
Davidson further links accounts of the jötunn [[Þjazi]]'s eyes flung into the heavens by Odin and the frozen toe of [[Aurvandil]] tossed into the sky by the god Thor, the eyes in the prior case becoming stars and the toe in the latter case becoming a star known as "Aurvandil's Toe". Davidson comments that "these myths are evidently connected with names of [[constellation]]s, but the strange reference to a frozen toe suggests that there is some connexion with the creation legend of the giant that emerged from the ice".<ref name=Davidson-1990/>{{rp|pages=199–200}}