"Heimdallr returns the necklace Bryfing to Freya" (1846) by Nils Johan Olsson Blommér. Nils Johan Olsson Blommér (1816 &ndash 1853 was a Swedish painter

Heimdall (Old Norse Heimdallr, the prefix Heim- means home, the affix -dallr is of uncertain origin) is one of the Æsir (gods) in Norse mythology. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age In Old Norse, áss (or ǫ́ss ás, plural æsir, feminine ásynja, feminine plural ásynjur) is the term denoting one of the principal Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Heimdall is the guardian of the gods and of the link between Midgard and Asgard, the Bifrost Bridge. Midgard (an Anglicized form of Old Norse Miðgarðr) is an old Germanic name for our World, the places inhabited by humans, This article is about the realm of Norse Mythology For other uses of the names Asgard, Asgaard and Asgård, see Asgard (disambiguation Bifröst ( Old Norse bifrǫst, literally the "tremulous way" from bifask "to tremble" and rǫst "a distance" in Legends foretell that he will sound the Gjallarhorn, alerting the Æsir to the onset of Ragnarök where the world ends and is reborn. In Norse mythology, Gjallarhorn ( Old Norse "yelling horn" is the horn with which the gatekeeper god Heimdallr, announces Ragnarök In Old Norse, áss (or ǫ́ss ás, plural æsir, feminine ásynja, feminine plural ásynjur) is the term denoting one of the principal In Norse mythology, Ragnarök (rɑgnɑrɔk Old Norse "Final destiny of the gods" refers to a series of major events including a great battle foretold

Heimdall is described as being so alert that he requires no sleep at all. He can hear the grass grow and see to the end of the world; he can hear a leaf fall. Grass is the common word that generally describes Monocotyledonous green Plants The family Gramineae ( Poaceae) are the "true grasses" and include Heimdall is described as a son of Odin, perhaps a foster son. Odin (ˈoʊdɪn from Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the chief god in Norse paganism. Heimdall was destined to be the last of the gods to perish at Ragnarök when he and Loki would slay one another. In Norse mythology, Ragnarök (rɑgnɑrɔk Old Norse "Final destiny of the gods" refers to a series of major events including a great battle foretold In Cryptography, LOKI89 and LOKI91 are Block ciphers designed as possible replacements for the Data Encryption Standard (DES

Characteristics

Heimdall is depicted blowing into Gjallarhorn in this illustration from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript. In Norse mythology, Gjallarhorn ( Old Norse "yelling horn" is the horn with which the gatekeeper god Heimdallr, announces Ragnarök

A depiction of Heimdall from Fredrik Sander's 1893 Swedish edition of the Poetic Edda. The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval Manuscript Codex Regius.

In this illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript Heimdallr is shown guarding the gate of Valhalla. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( Heimdall ( Old Norse Heimdallr, the prefix Heim- means home, the affix -dallr is of uncertain origin is one of the Æsir

Heimdall depicted with Gjallarhorn by Lorenz Frølich. Lorenz Frølich (1820 in Copenhagen - 1908 was a Danish painter illustrator and etcher

Heimdall is described as the son of nine different mothers (possibly the nine daughters of Ægir, called billow maidens) and was called the White God. Ægir ( Old Norse "sea" is a Jötunn and a king of the sea in Norse mythology. His hall was called Himinbjörg (Sky Mountain) and his horse was Gulltoppr (Gold-top). Several things are commonly known as Halls or halls. For the development of meaning of the word 'hall' see Hall (concept. The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. In Norse mythology, Gulltoppr ( Golden Mane, sometimes Anglicized Gulltopp) is one of the horses of the gods Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda relates that a kenning for sword is head of Heimdall because Heimdall was struck by a man's head and that this is treated in the poem Heimdalargaldr, a poem unfortunately lost. Snorri Sturluson (1178 – September 23, 1241) was an Icelandic historian poet and politician The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda ( Snorra Edda) or simply Edda, is an A kenning ( Old Norse kenning, Modern Icelandic pronunciation) is a Circumlocution used instead of an ordinary Noun in Old Norse Similarly, a kenning for head is sword of Heimdall. The meaning may lie in Heimdall also being called "ram", the weapon of a ram being its head, including the horns. Georges Dumézil (1959) suggested that this might also be why Heimdall is called White-god. Georges Dumézil ( March 4, 1898 – October 11, 1986) was a French comparative Philologist best known for his analysis of Sovereignty

Heimdall's nickname Hallinskíði ("Bent Stick") also appears as a kenning for "ram", perhaps referring to the bent horns on a ram's head. Heimdall's nickname Gullintanni ("Golden-Toothed") would refer to the yellow coloring found in the teeth of old rams. A third name for Heimdall is Vindhlér ("Wind Shelter"). Dumézil cites Welsh folklore sources which tell how ocean waves come in sets of nine with the ninth one being the ram:

We understand that whatever his mythical value and functions were, the scene of his birth made him, in the sea's white frothing, the ram produced by the ninth wave. If this is the case, then it is correct to say that he has nine mothers, since one alone does not suffice, nor two, nor three.

Old Welsh practice, modern French practice and modern Basque practice is to refer to white-capped waves as sheep. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain

Poetic Edda

Völuspá

The first stanza of the Poeic Edda poem Völuspá proclaims:

I ask for a hearing       of all the holy races
Greater and lesser,       kinsman of Heimdall.

The Eddic poem Rígsthula explains in what way these races are kinsmen of Heimdall, explaining who the god Ríg, identified with Heimdall in a short prose introduction, apparently fathered the three classes of humankind as understood by the poet, the youngest of which fathered in turn Kon the Young (Old Norse Kon ungr) understood as the first immortal king (Old Norse konungr).

Þrymskviða

H. R. Ellis Davidson proposes a link between Heimdall and the Vanir ^[1] as do some others, partly based on stanza 15 of the Poetic Edda poem Þrymskviða:

Then Heimdall spoke,       whitest of the Æsir,
Like the other Vanir he knew       the future well. Dr Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson (born Hilda Roderick Ellis, 1 October 1914 - January 2006 was a British Antiquarian and academic writing in particular Vanir is the name of one of the two groups of gods in Norse mythology, the other and more well known being the Æsir. Þrymskviða (the name can be anglicized as Thrymskviða, Thrymskvitha, Thrymskvidha or Thrymskvida) is one of the

However other can be also translated even, which would mean instead that Heimdall had foresight "even" as do the Vanir.

Davidson also notes a connection with Freyja, given that one of her names, Mardoll, matches his, with mar meaning "sea" and heim meaning "earth". Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya) is a major goddess in Norse Paganism, a subset of Germanic Paganism. ^[1]

Prose Edda

Húsdrápa and Heimdallargaldr

The lost Heimdallargaldr may have contained the following adventure which was also referenced in Úlfr Uggason's skaldic poem Húsdrápa of which only fragments are preserved:

Once, Freyja woke up and found that someone had stolen Brisingamen. Úlfr Uggason was an Icelandic Skald who lived in the last part of the 10th century. Húsdrápa is a skaldic poem partially preserved in the Prose Edda where disjoint stanzas of it are quoted Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya) is a major goddess in Norse Paganism, a subset of Germanic Paganism. In Norse mythology, Brísingamen (from Old Norse brisinga "flaming glowing" and men "jewellry ornament" is Heimdall helped her search for it and eventually found the thief, who turned out to be Loki and they fought in the form of seals at Vágasker 'Wave-skerry' and Singasteinn, wherever they may be. In Cryptography, LOKI89 and LOKI91 are Block ciphers designed as possible replacements for the Data Encryption Standard (DES Heimdall won and returned Brisingamen to Freyja.

Theories

Georges Dumézil considers Heimdall an old Indo-European god, a type of god he calls first god which is different from being the highest god. The Thessalian god of Romans Janus would be the Roman reflex to this concept. Thessalia redirects here For the Butterfly Genus, see Thessalia (butterfly. Roman mythology, or more appropriately Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus was the god of Gates Doors doorways beginnings and endings But there are other first gods. Heimdall is also a frame god, one who appears at the beginning and remains until the end. ^[2]

Dumézil suggested that the Hindu counterpart was the god Dyaus, one of the eight Vasus, who reincarnated as the frame hero Bhishma in the epic Mahabharata, he and his seven brothers being born to a mortal king by the River Ganges who herself had taken on mortal form. In the Vedic religion Dyauṣ Pitar   is the Sky Father, husband of Prithvi and father of Agni and Indra ( RV 4 In Hinduism, the Vasus are attendant deities of Indra, and later Vishnu. Bhishma: One of the strongest characters of the Mahabharata. He was the great-uncle of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas A unparalleled archer he once The Ganges (ˈgænʤiːz also Ganga, Devanāgarī: hi गंगा in most Indian languages) is the major river in the Indian subcontinent But the seven other brothers are returned to their immortal forms by being drowned by their mother immediately after birth. ^[2]

Only Dyaus was compelled to live a full life on earth in the form of Bhishma. Bhishma is destined to never hold power himself or have any direct descendants but acts as an ageless uncle on behalf of the line of lords that tortuously descend from his half-brothers, including finally the five Pandava brothers who represent four classes of society: royalty, noble warrior, lower class club-bearing warrior, and herdsmen. In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava (or Pandawa brothers ( Sanskrit: पाण्‍डव pāṇḍavaḥ are the five acknowledged sons of Bhishma is the last to die in the great battle of Kurukshetra. Kurukshetra ( Hindi: कुरुक्षेत्र is the name of a City in Kurukshetra District of the Indian state of Haryana हरियाणा ^[2]

However Branston (1980) considers Heimdall to be cognate with the Vedic Agni god of fire, who is in many Vedic texts is born from the waters or hides within the waters and who is born from two, seven, nine, and ten mothers in various sources, the ten mothers being sometimes explained as the ten fingers which can manipulate a bore-stick to produce fire. This article discusses the historical religious practices in the Vedic time period see Hinduism and Indian religions for details Agni is a Hindu and Vedic deity. The word agni is Sanskrit for "fire" (noun cognate with Latin ignis This accords with Viktor Rydberg's theories on Heimdall.

See also

• Mothers of Heimdall
• Ríg

References

External links

• Sayers, William (1993). "Irish Perspectives on Heimdallr". (PDF) Alvíssmál 2. Freie Universität Berlin. ISBN 3-86135-601-5.