Editing Iðunn (section)

==Theories==
===Apples and fertility===
Some surviving stories regarding Iðunn focus on her youth-maintaining apples. English scholar [[Hilda Ellis Davidson]] links apples to religious practices in [[Germanic paganism]]. She points out that buckets of apples were found in the 9th-century [[Oseberg ship]] burial site in [[Norway]] and that fruit and nuts (Iðunn having been described as being transformed into a nut in ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'') have been found in the early graves of the [[Germanic peoples]] in England and elsewhere on the continent of Europe which may have had a symbolic meaning and also that nuts are still a recognized symbol of fertility in Southwest England.<ref name=DAVIDSON165-166>Davidson (1965:165–166).</ref>

Davidson notes a connection between apples and the [[Vanir]], a group of gods associated with [[fertility]] in Norse mythology, citing an instance of eleven "[[golden apple]]s" being given to woo the beautiful [[Gerðr]] by [[Skírnir]], who was acting as messenger for the major Vanir god [[Freyr]] in stanzas 19 and 20 of ''[[Skírnismál]]''. In ''Skírnismál'', Gerðr mentions her brother's slayer in stanza 16, which Davidson states has led to some suggestions that Gerðr may have been connected to Iðunn as they are similar in this way. Davidson also notes a further connection between fertility and apples in Norse mythology; in chapter 2 of the ''[[Völsunga saga]]'' when the major goddess [[Frigg]] sends King [[Rerir]] an apple after he prays to Odin for a child, Frigg's messenger (in the guise of a [[crow]]) drops the apple in his lap as he sits atop a mound.<ref name=DAVIDSON165-166/> Rerir's wife's consumption of the apple results in a six-year pregnancy and the [[caesarean section]] birth of their son—the hero [[Völsung]].<ref name=DAVIDSONROLES146-147>Davidson (1998:146–147).</ref>

Davidson points out the "strange" phrase "apples of [[Hel (location)|Hel]]" used in an 11th-century poem by the skald Þórbjörn Brúnason. Davidson states this may imply that the apple was thought of by the skald as the food of the dead. Further, Davidson notes that the potentially Germanic goddess [[Nehalennia]] is sometimes depicted with apples and parallels exist in early Irish stories. Davidson asserts that while cultivation of the apple in Northern Europe extends back to at least the time of the [[Roman Empire]] and came to Europe from the Near East, the native varieties of apple trees growing in Northern Europe are small and bitter. Davidson concludes that in the figure of Iðunn "we must have a dim reflection of an old symbol: that of the guardian goddess of the life-giving fruit of the other world."<ref name=DAVIDSON165-166/>

===Indo-European basis===
David Knipe theorizes Iðunn's abduction by Thjazi in eagle form as an example of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] motif "of an eagle who steals the celestial means of immortality." In addition, Knipe says that "a parallel to the theft of Iðunn's apples (symbols of fertility) has been noted in the Celtic myth where [[Brian (mythology)|Brian]], [[Iuchar]], and [[Iucharba|Icharba]], the sons of [[Tuireann|Tuirenn]], assume the guise of hawks in order to steal sacred apples from the garden of [[Hisberna]]. Here, too, there is pursuit, the guardians being female griffins."<ref name=KNIPE338-339>Knipe (1967:338–339).</ref>

===Other===
[[John Lindow]] theorizes that the possible [[etymology|etymological]] meaning of ''Iðunn''—'ever young'—would potentially allow Iðunn to perform her ability to provide eternal youthfulness to the gods without her apples, and further states that ''Haustlöng'' does not mention apples but rather refers to Iðunn as the "maiden who understood the eternal life of the [[Æsir]]." Lindow further theorizes that Iðunn's abduction is "one of the most dangerous moments" for the gods, as the general movement of female jötnar to the gods would be reversed.<ref name=LINDOW198-199/>

Regarding the accusations levelled towards Iðunn by Loki, [[Lee Hollander]] opines that ''Lokasenna'' was intended to be humorous and that the accusations thrown by Loki in the poem are not necessarily to be taken as "generally accepted lore" at the time it was composed. Rather they are charges that are easy for Loki to make and difficult for his targets to disprove, or which they do not care to refute.<ref name=HOLLAND90>Hollander (1990:90).</ref>

In his study of the skaldic poem ''[[Haustlöng]]'', Richard North comments that "[Iðunn] is probably to be understood as an aspect of Freyja, a goddess whom the gods rely on for their youth and beauty [...]".<ref name="NORTHXIV">North (1997:xiv).</ref>