In Norse mythology , Ginnungagap ( old Norse : [??inːoŋ?????p] ; "gaping abyss", "yawning void") is the primordial, magical ^{[1] [2]} void mentioned in three poems from the Poetic Edda ^{[3] [4]} and the Gylfaginning , the Eddaic text recording Norse cosmogony .

Etymology [ edit ]

Ginnunga- is usually interpreted as deriving from a verb meaning "gape" or "yawn", but no such word occurs in Old Norse except in verse 3 of the Eddic poem " V?luspa ", " gap var ginnunga ", which may be a play on the term.

In her edition of the poem, Ursula Dronke suggested it was borrowed from Old High German ginunga , as the term Muspell is believed to have been borrowed from Old High German. ^[5] An alternative etymology links the ginn- prefix with that found in terms with a sacral meaning, such as ginn-heilagr , ginn-regin (both referring to the gods) and ginn-runa (referring to the runes), thus interpreting Ginnungagap as signifying a "magical (and creative) power-filled space". ^[1]

Creation [ edit ]

Ginnungagap appears as the primordial void in the Norse creation account . The Gylfaginning states:

Ginnungagap, the Yawning Void ... which faced toward the northern quarter, became filled with heaviness, and masses of ice and rime, and from within, drizzling rain and gusts; but the southern part of the Yawning Void was lighted by those sparks and glowing masses which flew out of Muspellheim ^[6]

In the Voluspa , a supernaturally long-lived volva who was raised by jotnar tells the story of how Odin and his two brothers created the world from Ginnungagap. ^[2]

Geographic rationalization [ edit ]

Scandinavian cartographers from the early 15th century attempted to localize or identify Ginnungagap as a real geographic location from which the creation myth derived. A fragment from a 15th-century (pre-Columbus) Old Norse encyclopedic text entitled Gripla (Little Compendium) places Ginnungagap between Greenland and Vinland :

Now is to be told what lies opposite Greenland, out from the bay, which was before named: Furdustrandir hight a land; there are so strong frosts that it is not habitable, so far as one knows; south from thence is Helluland, which is called Skrellingsland; from thence it is not far to Vinland the Good, which some think goes out from Africa; between Vinland and Greenland is Ginnungagap, which flows from the sea called Mare oceanum, and surrounds the whole earth. ^[7]

A scholion in a 15th-century manuscript of Adam of Bremen 's Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum similarly refers to Ghimmendegop as the Norse word for the abyss in the far north. ^[8]

Later, the 17th-century Icelandic bishop Guðbrandur Thorlaksson also used the name Ginnung e gap to refer to a narrow body of water, possibly the Davis Strait , separating the southern tip of Greenland from Estotelandia, pars America extrema , probably Baffin Island . ^[9]

In popular culture [ edit ]

This article may contain irrelevant references to popular culture . Please remove the content or add citations to reliable and independent sources . ( May 2023 )

• Ginnungagap is song taken from the Jethro Tull album, RokFlote, and released as a single on January 20, 2023. ^[10]

• Ginnungagap is featured in the Marvel Universe , as a void that existed before the formation of the world. In this place were formed entities such as the Elder Gods , ^{[11] [12]} Xian, ^[13] Ennead , ^[14] Frost Giants , Fire Demons , ^[15] Nyx ^[16] and Amatsu-Mikaboshi . ^[17]

• In the Netflix series Ragnarok , Ginnungagap is visited as camping site for a classroom field trip during Season 1, Episode 4; it also happens to be the name of this particular episode. In Season 2, Episode 2, Ginnungagap is visited by the characters Laurits and Vidar, and is depicted as a scenic vantage point overlooking a fjord and two adjoining mountains.

• Alastair Reynolds ' space opera novel Absolution Gap features a chasm named Ginnungagap Rift.

• Swedish death metal band, Amon Amarth and their 2001 album The Crusher features a track titled, "Fall Through Ginnungagap".

• Swedish symphonic metal band, Therion , features a track titled "Ginnungagap" on their Secret of the Runes album from 2001.

• EVE Online has a black hole whose accretion disk shows up in the skybox named Ginnungagap.

• "Ginungagap" (sic) is the title of a science fiction short story by Michael Swanwick .

• French neofolk group SKALD included a song titled "Ginnunga" in their 2018 album Vikings Chant . ^[18]

• Ginnungagap (ギンヌンガガプ, Ginnungagapu ) is a weaponized grimoire introduced in Fire Emblem Fates , a video-game franchise published by Nintendo. It is a high-level item that hits the hardest of all tomes and scrolls in the game.

• Ginungagap is the hub world of the video game Jøtun .

• In PlatinumGames's Bayonetta 3 , the main characters travel through the multiverse, and the Ginnungagap is used as a gateway. In the game, it is referred to as "Ginnungagap, the Chaotic Rift".

• A variation of Ginnungagap called "The Spark of the World" appears in the 2022 action-adventure video game God of War Ragnarok . This location becomes accessible during the main quest while in Muspelheim, appearing as a cosmic tapestry of orange sparks merged with blue-tinged essence, presumably from Niflheim.

See also [ edit ]

• Abyss (religion)
• Chaos (mythology)
• Plane (esotericism)
• Void (astronomy)

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

• Dillmann, F. X. (1998). "Ginnungagap" in: Beck, H., Steuer, H. & Timpe, D. (Eds.) Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, Volume 12 . Berlin: de Gruyter. ISBN   3-11-016227-X .
• de Vries, Jan (1977). Altnordisches etymologisches Worterbuch . Leiden: Brill.
• Simek, Rudolf (1995). Lexicon der germanischen Mythology . Stuttgart: Alfred Kroner. ISBN   3-520-36802-1 .

External links [ edit ]

• Guðbrandur Thorlaksson's 1606 map of the North Atlantic