Ymir

For other uses, see Ymir (disambiguation).

Ymir
Name in hieroglyphs	Aurgelmir

In Norse mythology, Ymir, also named Aurgelmir (Old Norse gravel-yeller) among the giants themselves, was the founder of the race of frost giants and an important figure in Norse cosmology.

Creation myth

Snorri Sturluson combined several sources, along with some of his own conclusions, to explain Ymir's role in the Norse creation myth. The main sources available are the great Eddic poem Völuspá, the question and answer poem Grímnismál, and the question and answer poem Vafþrúðnismál. The Völuspá opens with the Norse account of the creation of the present universe :

Odin and his brothers create the world out of the body of Ymir in this artwork by Lorenz Frølich.

Old tales I remember2|2of men long ago.

I remember yet2|2the giants of lore [...]

Of old was the age2|2when Ymir lived;

No Sea nor cool waves2|2nor sand there were;

Earth had not been2|2nor heaven above,

Only a yawning gap2|2and grass nowhere.

According to these poems, in the beginning there was nothing except for the ice of Niflheim, to the north, and the fire of Muspelheim, to the south. Between them was a yawning gap called Ginnungagap and there a few pieces of ice melted by a few sparks of fire created a moisture called eitr, the liquid substance of life. Ymir was the first to be conceived as drops of eitr joined together and formed a giant of rime frost (a hrimthurs) and sparks from Muspelheim brought him to life. While Ymir slept, the sweat under his arms became two more giants, one male and one female, and one of his legs mated with the other to create a third, a son Þrúðgelmir. These were the forebearers of the family of frost giants or jutuns. They were nursed by the cow giant Auðumbla who, like Ymir, was created from the melting ice in Ginnungagap. Auðumbla herself fed on a block of salty ice, and her licking sculpted it into the shape of a man who became Búri, the ancestor of the gods (Æsir) and the grandfather of Odin.

Buri fathered Borr, and Borr fathered three sons, the gods Vili, Vé, and Odin. These brothers killed the giant Ymir, and unleashed a vast flood from Ymir's blood killing all the frost giants but the son of Þrúðgelmir, Bergelmir, and Bergelmir's wife who all took safety in a hollow tree. Odin and his brothers used Ymir's lifeless body to create the universe. They carried it to the center of Ginnungagap and there they ground his flesh into dirt. The maggots that appeared in his flesh became the dwarves that live under the earth. His bones became the mountains, his teeth rocks and pebbles. Odin strewed Ymir's brains into the sky to create the clouds, and took sparks and embers from Muspelheim for the sun, moon and stars. The gods placed four dwarves—Norðri (North), Suðri (South), Austri (East), and Vestri (West)—to hold up Ymir's skull and create the heavens.

The three gods created the first human beings, Ask from a fallen ash tree and Embla from a fallen elm. Odin breathed life into them; Villi granted them intelligence; and Ve gave them vision and hearing. They dwelled in the realm the gods created from Ymir's eyebrows, Midgard, where the human race could live safe from Bergelmir and his descendants. The gods regulated the passage of the days and nights, as well as the seasons. Sól is the personified sun, a daughter of Mundilfari, and wife of Glen. Every day, she rides through the sky on her chariot, pulled by two horses named Árvakr and Alsviðr. Sól is chased during the day by Sköll, a wolf that wants to devour her. It is foretold that Sköll will eventually catch Sol and eat her during Ragnarök; however, she will first give birth to a daughter as fair as she. Sól's brother Máni, the personified moon, is chased by Hati Hróðvitnisson, another wolf. The earth is protected from the full heat of the sun by the shield Svalinn, which is placed before Sól.

Two other names associated with Ymir are Brimir and Bláinn according to Völuspá, stanza 9, where the gods discuss forming the race of dwarfs from the "blood of Brimir and the limbs of Bláinn". Later in stanza 37, Brimir is mentioned as having a beer hall in Ókólnir. In Gylfaginning "Brimir" is the name of the hall itself, destined to survive the destruction of Ragnarök and providing an "abundance of good drink" for the souls of the virtuous.

Etymology

Analysis of different Indo-European tales indicate the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed there were two progenitors of mankind: *Manu- ("Man"; Indic Manu; Germanic Mannus) and *Yemo- ("Twin"), his twin brother. The latter, like Ymir, was sacrificed and carved up by his brother to produce mankind.

Traces of this dualistic structure of (also) the Proto-Indo-European creation myth can be found in parallel mythological entities with the same etymology, like the Indic death deity Yama and Avestan Yima, progenitors of mankind; of Remus (according to Jaan Puhvel), the brother of Romulus in the story of the founding of Rome, and Ymir. The underlying Proto-Indo-European form is *yemo ("twin"). The corresponding Proto-Germanic form was either *umijaz or, in better accordance with this theory, *jumijaz (W.Meid).

Yama shares with Ymir the characteristics of being primordial and mortal, but otherwise developed towards a very different character, the first of mortal men and kings who after death becomes ruler of the realm of the dead.

See also

• Cipactli
• Purusha
• Tiamat
• Kingu
• Yama

References

• Branston, Brian (1978). Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology. Eurobook Limited.
• Leeming, David A. (2009). Creation Myths of the World (2nd ed.). ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1598841749. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Littleton, C. Scott (2005). Gods, goddesses, and mythology. Vol. 1. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 9780761475590. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Meid, W. (1992). Die Germanische Religion im Zeugnis der Sprache. In Beck et al., Germanische Religionsgeschichte – Quellen und Quellenprobleme, pp. 486-507. New York, de Gruyter.
• Page, R. I. (1996). Norse Myths. Bath Press, 1990, University of Texas Press.
• Turville-Petre, O. E. G. (1964). Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
• Winterbourne, Anthony (2004). When the Norns Have Spoken: Time and Fate in Germanic Paganism. Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp. ISBN 0-8386-4048-6.
• Young, Jean I. (1954). The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology. Bowes & Bowes.