Gods and Myths of Northern Europe

GRENDEL: Monster who attacked the Danish king’s hall, and was slain by Beowulf, as recounted in the Anglo-Saxon poem

GRIMNISMAL: Poem in the Edda, the utterance of Grimnir, who is Odin in disguise

GULLINBURSTI: ‘Golden-bristled’. Golden boar made by the dwarfs, owned by Freyr

GUNGNIR: Spear of Odin

GUNNAR HELMING (GUNNARR HELMINGR): Hero of short humorous story inserted into Flateyjarbok, a Norwegian who impersonated the god Freyr in Sweden

GYLFI: Early king of Sweden who let Gefion take Zealand. Appears in the Prose Edda as the questioner of the gods in the section called Gylfaginning (the beguiling of Gylfi)

GYMIR: Father of Gerd, and said to be the same as Aegir

HADDING (HADDINGR): Famous hero in Denmark. Hadingus in Saxo

HADDINGJAR: The Haddings. Pair of brothers sometimes named among early kings of Norway or Sweden, thought to have been twin deities

HAETHCYN (H??CYN): Second son of Hrethel, king of the Geats in Beowulf, and slayer of his brother

HAGBARD (HARBAR?R): Lover of Signy, put to death by her father. Hagbarthus in Saxo

HAKI: Early king of Norway, sent to sea in a burning ship as he was dying

HAKONARMAL: Tenth-century poem by Eyvindr Finnsson on the death of the Norwegian king Hakon the Good (translated by N. Kershaw, Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems, Cambridge University Press, 1922)

HAKO? THE GOOD (HAKON GO?I): Christian king of Norway in the tenth century

HALFDAN THE BLACK (HALFDAN SVARTI): Early king of Vestfold, Norway in the ninth century

HARALD FAIRHAIR (HARALDR INN HARFAGRI): ‘Harald with the fine hair’, the king of Norway who united most of the country under his rule in the ninth century

HARALD WARTOOTH (HARALDR HILDITONN): King of Denmark who worshipped Odin

HAR?AR SAGA: One of the Icelandic family sagas, the story of Hord the outlaw

HAVAMAL: ‘Utterance of the High One’. Poem in the Edda, purporting to be spoken by Odin (translated by D. E. Martin Clarke, Cambridge University Press, 1923)

HAUKSBOK: One version of Landnamabok, giving an account of the settlement of Iceland

HAUSTLONG: Ninth-century poem about the gods, by ?jo?olfr or Hvini

HEIDRUN (HEIDRUN): Goat which provided mead for Valhalla, fed on the World Tree

HEIMDALLARGALDR: Lost poem about Heimdall, quoted by Snorri

HEIMDALL (HEIMDALLR): God called the White, who kept watch over Asgard

HEIMSKRINGLA: ‘Round world’. History of kings of Norway, compiled from old sagas and poems by Snorri Sturluson (translated by E. Monsen and A. H. Smith, Heffer, 1931)

HEL: Daughter of Loki, given the rule of the kingdom of death, name also used for the kingdom itself

HELGAKVI?A: Lay of Helgi. A number of Helgi lays in the Edda have different titles in various editions. They are concerned with Helgi Hjorvar?sson and Helgi Hundingsbani, and, as the latter was linked with the Volsung family, lays about him are sometimes called Volsungakvi?a and Volsungakvi?a hin forna (this last contains the episode of Helgi and Sigrun)

HELGI THE LEAN: Early settler in Iceland, of mixed faith, who came out from the Hebrides

HELGRIND: ‘Death gate’, between the worlds of the living and the dead

HELI AND: Old Saxon poem of the ninth century about Judgement Day

HEOROT: Hall built by the Danish king Hrothgar, as recounted in Beowulf

HEREBEALD: Son of King Hrethel of the Geats, killed accidentally by his brother, according to Beowulf

HERMOD (HERMO?R): Son of Odin, who rode to Hel to seek Balder

HERVARAR SAGA OK HEI?REKS: One of the legendary sagas in the Fornaldar Sogur collection, the story of King Hei?rekr and his descendants (translated by N. Kershaw, Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, Cambridge University Press, 1921)

HILDISVIN: ‘Battle Pig’. Boar owned by Freyja, and also name of helmet possessed by Swedish kings

HLI?SKJALF: Seat of Odin from which he can look out to all worlds

HODER (HO?R): Hotherus in Saxo’s account. A god, said to be blind, who slew Balder, but a hero in Saxo

HOENIR (H?NIR): A god, renowned for his silence

HOLMGANGA: ‘To go to the island’. Term used for the official duel, fought at an accepted duelling place, which at Thingvellir in Iceland was an island beside the place of assembly

HORD (HOR?R): Famous outlaw, hero of Har?ar Saga

HRAFNKELL: Hero of Hrafnskels Saga Freysgo?a, one of the Icelandic family sagas, where he is represented as a worshipper of Freyr (translated by G. Jones, Four Icelandic Sagas, Princeton, 1935)

HRAFNSMAL: Poem by ?orbjorn Hornklofi, composed in the ninth century, about the followers of Harald Fairhair. Also known as Haraldsmal and Haraldskv??i (translated by N. Kershaw, Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems, Cambridge University Press, 1922)

HRETHEL (HRE?EL): King of the Geats in Beowulf and grandfather of the hero of the poem

HROLF KRAKI (HROLFR KRAKI): Famous warrior-king of Denmark, whose story is told in one of the legendary sagas, Hrolfs Saga Kraka (translated by G. Jones, in Eric the Red and other Icelandic sagas, World’s Classics, 1961)

HROTHGAR (HRO?AR): King of the Danes who built the hall Heorot and was visited by Beowulf

HRUNGNIR: Giant who was killed in a duel with Thor

HUGI: ‘Thought’. Youth who competed with Thialfi in a race in the hall of Utgard-Loki

HUGINN: From hugi, thought. One of Odin’s ravens

HUSDRAPA: Tenth-century poem by Ulfr Uggarson describing various mythological scenes

HYMIR: Sea giant with whom Thor went fishing on his expedition to catch the World Serpent, as told in the poem Hymiskvi?a in the Edda

HYNDLULJO?: Lay of Hyndla, a giantess who appears as the rival of Freyja and is persuaded to reveal the ancestry of Ottar. A poem in the Edda

IBN FADLAN: Arab traveller and diplomat who visited Swedish settlers on the Volga in the tenth century and left an account of them

IDUN (I?UNN): Wife of Bragi and goddess who guarded the golden apples of youth for the gods

ING: God or hero of Anglo-Saxon tradition, connected with Denmark, and the founder of the royal dynasty of Bernicia

INGIMUND: Icelandic settler, the story of whose family is told in Vatnsd?la Saga, one of the Icelandic family sagas

IRMINSUL: Pillar which supports the world in Germanic tradition

JOMSBORG: Viking stronghold, said to be built by Harald Gormsson of Denmark, somewhere on the coast of Wendland, in the late tenth century. Held by garrison known as Jomsvikings

JORDANES: Historian of the sixth century who wrote a history of the Goths, De origine actibusque Getarum (translated Mierow, Princeton, 1915)

JOTUNHEIM (JOTUNHEIMR): Realm of the Jotnar, or giants

KALEVALA: National epic of the Finns, put together from old lays by Elias Lonnrot (translated by W. F. Kirby, 1907)

KETILS SAGA H?NGS: One of the legendary sagas telling the story of the Norwegian hero Ketill, in the Fornaldar Sogur series