Footnotes 2-23 appeared from pages 1 to 5, covering the notes of the section
Ginungagap. Since the translation project will stop due to the release of the completed version of the book,
Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia, the remaining notes and translated portions of the book will be posted here before the blog ends.
Below are the Footnotes labeled 2 through 23, each edited to include the exact term they are going over since the superscript numbers were not ttransferred in the passages of the translation.
Footnotes 2-23
Gínungagap
2 Gínungagap – “The Swallowing Gap”. From the root word gina which means wide, big, wide-extended, far alone without the intention of being filled up. It also means illusion, and while the gap means empty room, we get the big empty fraudulent compartments, which indicate that the creation itself is a delusion staged by the gods from another galaxy, perfect people who are sent to create more.
3 Niflheimr – “Nebula” and the dark world of the word nifl - Greek νεφελη, nebula and heimr.
4 Múspellsheimr – “Fire” and light the world, the word mutspelli (the devastating fire) and heimr.
5 Hvergelmir – From hverr (a year old) and gelmir derived from galm, which means strong sensation or movement.
6 Surtr – From svartr (English “swarthy”, German “schwarz”) which means blackened by fire. He is the guardian of Múspellsheimr and not the master, just as Heimdallr is heaven's guardian and not its master. While Múspell’s sons themselves are bright and shiny - they live in the light - it is Surtr who makes black with combustion. He is the volcanic lava, the world’s inner fire that rises up and burns the earth.
7 Élivágr - From ælífr, eternal; vágr, waves. Is the rhythm of the universe breathing, the eternal waves emanating from Hvergelmir.
8 Ymir – From ymja or umda, which means sound, honk, murmur, mutter, moan, and carry themselves. It means the huge commotion in the planets’ and the sun's creation, from the cosmic winds and huge masses of material matter that collide.
9 Aurgelmir – From aur, soil, clay, sand, gravel, mud, coarse ferrous sand; gelmir, severe rash, pull, motion.
10 Auðhumbla – from Audra, deserted, uncultivated (land), unused and empty, and hum, half dark, twilight, the sea/ocean, and blue, blue-black.
11 Búri – From Burien, the stretcher, the mat: the birth, or of the same: the person who gives birth.
12 Börr – From the word for drill, man, or burr (English “bore”, “burrow”), son, or bor from the Germanic bôron, meaning drill, plow, cut.
13 Bölþorn – From bol, meaning misery, and thorn, thorn bush, bramble. Bestla comes from best, meaning laid or blood, of Germanic lagwa, sea water at the sea shore, poetic word for sea.
14 Óðin – From odr (English root for “ether”), mind, thought, anger, elated mood and spirit, which is bent in the accusative singular, specific terms are óðinn, and hence Óðinn. He is the spirit, it embodies the power of all creation, his brothers, Vílir (will) and Véi (the sacred) are expressions of this power. Véi comes from vig, which is the sacred, connecting power, as seen in the old verb vígja (to initiate). Véi is holy place in general, and the peace that rests in such sites. We have in these three thinking, willingness, and the sacred bond that must unite them so that they could produce the good. The Spirit gives life, the Will takes care of it and sanctuary removes the impure.
15 Trollsanger or the Nine Songs – He learned to know the nature of matter, from alpha to omega. The number nine represents the nine months it takes to complete the creation of a new human life. The nine magic songs are the ability to create new life through and of what already exists - here represented by Bölþorn’s son. Nine is the perfect number, which contains all the other numbers in it and that can be multiplied by any of them, including himself, and yet always be nine (referring here to the rule that nine is the highest number, and that the only real numbers are from one to nine).
16 The Four Dwarves – Austria (east), Vestri (west), Nordia (northern) and Suðri (south).
17 Miðgarðr – The fortified home of man located in the world.
18 Ymir’s Brains – Here it’s talking about metaphors. The idea is that matter has many forms, and each gives rise to different things; the brain turns into clouds because of the same, percisely because the brain brings thoughts.
19 Bergelmir – From seeds and berries, pollen, spores and sperm, of the Germanic stem bazjá-, or small shrub. The basic meaning is that which grows in brush vegitation. Gelmir comes from galm, which means rash or to move. He avoids drowning in Ymir’s blood by setting himself in a Ludres (a hollow body, a box, a coffin). These are all things that bear the basis for life itself, plants and wildlife that float on objects in the sea of blood, or that are held in the air by the wind, until sea’s level falls and land rises again so that it can renew life on earth.
20 Þruðgelmir – From þrúðr, strength; gelmir derived from galm, which means rash or movement. These are mighty forces of the universe that over millions upon millions of years, slowly but surely, develop life in small cells and then on to more high quality life. Examples of such forces are cosmic radiation.
Heavenly Bodies
21 Mundilfær – From mundr, gift, renumeration that the groom gave as payment for the bride, dowry, Faerie, chance, opportunity, that one is able to, means, wealth, or the one can afford. Refers to the fact that the moon and the sun were the best heaven could provide as a dowry for its marriage to the earth.
22 Alsviðr – From árvakr, vigilant; the prefix all-, meaning much or a lot; svinnr (sviðr), quick, wise, sensible and judicious.
23 Svalinn – Definitive form of svalr, meaning cool, dry. It means “the cooler”. Refers to the layer of ozone molecules in the atmosphere about thirty kilometers up that absorb ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
Next Post: Index/Table of Contents Translated
