Editing Skírnir

{{short description|Norse mythological character}}
{{Distinguish|Škriniar}}
[[Image:Ed0010.jpg|right|thumb|An illustration from [[Fredrik Sander]]'s 1893 Swedish edition of the [[Poetic Edda]]]]

In [[Norse mythology]], '''Skírnir''' ([[Old Norse]]" {{IPA|non|ˈskiːrnez̠|}}; "bright one"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dippold |first=George Theodore |title=The Great Epics of Mediæval Germany: An Outline of Their Contents and History |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |year=1882 |pages=123}}</ref>) is the god [[Freyr]]'s messenger and vassal. He appears in both the [[Poetic Edda|Poetic]] and [[Prose Edda|Prose Eddas]].

== Attestations ==

=== ''Poetic Edda'' ===
In the [[Poetic Edda|Eddic]] poem ''[[Skírnismál]]'', Skírnir is sent as a messenger to [[Jötunheimr]] to conduct lovesick Freyr's wooing of the giantess [[Gerðr]] on condition of being given Freyr's powerful [[Sword of Freyr|sword]] as a reward. Skírnir begins by offering Gerðr 11 golden apples (or [[Iðunn|apples of eternal life]], in a common emendation), which Gerðr rejects, adding that she and Freyr will never be together as long as they live. He next offers Gerðr a ring that [[Draupnir|produces eight more gold rings every ninth night]]. Gerðr responds that she is not interested in the ring for she shares her father [[Gymir (father of Gerðr)|Gymir's]] property, and he has no lack of gold.

Skírnir then turns to a series of threats. He first threatens to cut Gerðr's head from her neck and then threatens her father's life. He next tells Gerðr that she will sit on [[Hræsvelgr|an eagle's mound]], looking outward to the world, facing [[Hel (realm)|Hel]], and that food will become hateful to her. He then says he will turn her into a spectacle, that she will experience madness, and become overwhelmed with unbearable desire. She will weep rather than feel joy, and she will live the rest of her life in misery with a three-headed [[Jötunn|thurs]] or otherwise be without a man altogether.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Poetic Edda |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-283946-6 |editor-last=Larrington |editor-first=Carolyne |series=Oxford World's classics |location=Oxford}}</ref>

Skírnir tells Gerðr that he has been to a wood to get a ''[[gambanteinn]]'', which he wields and declares that the gods [[Odin]] and [[Thor]] are angry with Gerðr, and that Freyr will hate her. He tells her that the thurs's name who will own her below the gates of [[Nágrind]] is [[Hrímgrímnir]] and that there, at the [[Yggdrasil|roots of the world]], the finest thing Gerðr will be given to drink is goat urine. He carves a series of runes perhaps symbolizing sickness, lewdness, frenzy, and unbearable desire, and comments that if he wishes he can rub them off just as he has carved them.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Poetic Edda |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-283946-6 |editor-last=Larrington |editor-first=Carolyne |series=Oxford World's classics |location=Oxford}}</ref>

Gerðr responds by telling to Skírnir to take a crystal cup containing ancient [[mead]], noting that she thought she would never love one of the [[Vanir]], which indicates her intention to go with him. Skírnir asks her when she will meet with Freyr. She says that they will meet at a tranquil location called [[Barri]], and that after nine nights she will there grant Freyr her love.

Skírnir rides back to [[Asgard|Ásgarðr]]. Standing outside, Freyr immediately greets Skírnir and asks for news. Skírnir tells him that Gerðr will meet him at Barri. Freyr, impatient, comments that one night is long, as is two nights, and questions how he will bear three.

=== ''Prose Edda'' ===
In the ''[[Prose Edda]]''<nowiki/>'s ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', Skírnir also performs favors for [[Odin|Oðinn]], father of the gods. After the vicious wolf [[Fenrir]] evades capture, Skirnir visits the mountain dwarves, known for their mining and smithing. Together they forge the magical restraint [[Gleipnir]] for the purpose of binding the wolf. Such undertakings mark Skirnir as a crafty servant. ''Gylfaginning'' also retells the narrative of ''Skírnismál'' in prose, quoting from the poem and placing great emphasis on Freyr giving his sword to Skírnir. Later in the text, the narrator explains that Freyr's death at [[Ragnarök]] is the result of having lost his sword.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sturluson |first1=Snorri |title=Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning |last2=Faulkes |first2=Anthony |date=2011 |publisher=Viking Society for Northern Research |isbn=978-0-903521-64-2 |edition=2. |location=London}}</ref>

== Modern influence ==
Skírnir appears in several works of modern literature inspired by the Eddic poem ''Skírnismál''. This includes a major part of the Danish poet [[Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger]]'s ''Nordens Guder'' (1819) as well as Icelandic poet [[Gerður Kristný]]'s ''Blóðhófnir'' (2010), a feminist retelling of ''Skírnismál'' that won the 2010 [[Icelandic Literature Award|Icelandic Literary Prize]] for fiction.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Crocker |first1=Christopher |title=Cultural legacies of Old Norse literature: new perspectives |last2=Geeraert |first2=Dustin |date=2022 |publisher=D. S. Brewer |isbn=978-1-84384-638-3 |location=Cambridge}}</ref>

The [[Skirnir Mountains]], a group of [[Nunatak|nunataks]] along the [[King Frederick VI Coast]] in the [[Sermersooq]] municipality of southeast [[Greenland]] also take their name from Skírnir.

==Notes==
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==References==
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== External links ==

* [https://myndir.uvic.ca/SkrNr01.html MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)] Illustrations of Skírnir from manuscripts and early print books. Clicking on the thumbnail will give you the full image and information concerning it.
{{Freyr}}
{{Norse mythology}}

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[[Category:Freyr]]
[[Category:Servants in Norse mythology]]

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