In Norse mythology , Hlin is a goddess associated with the goddess Frigg . Hlin appears in a poem in the Poetic Edda , compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda , written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson , and in kennings found in skaldic poetry. Scholars have debated whether the stanza referring to her in the Prose Edda refers to Frigg. Hlin serves as a given name in Iceland, and Hlin receives veneration in the modern era in Germanic paganism's modern extension, Heathenry .

Etymology [ edit ]

Scholars frequently explain the meaning behind the goddess's name as 'protector'. ^[1] The Prose Edda section Gylfaginning derives the name from a verb found in a proverb in an obscure and otherwise unattested Old Norse proverb: Þiaðan af er þat orðtak at sa er forðask hleinir . Scholars generally accept that the theonym Hlin derives from the verb hleina . However, the verb hleina in which the section claims a derivation is obscure (a hapax legomenon ), and translators have attempted to work around it in a variety of manners, in some cases leaving the verb untranslated. Examples include the translations of Anthony Faulkes ("From this comes the saying that someone who escapes finds refuge ( hleinir )", 1995 [1987]) and Jesse Byock ("From her name comes the expression that he who escapes finds hleinir [peace and quiet]", 2005). ^[2]

Scholars have proposed a variety of derivations for the verb. The verb is most commonly linked to Old English hlinian and hlænan , ancestors to the modern English verb lean . 19th century scholars, including Jacob Grimm , linked hleina to the rare Old Norse noun hlynr , meaning ' maple tree '. Grimm links this derivation to a variety of tree figures found in folklore from the modern era in northwest Europe. Joseph Hopkins (2017) comments that this derivation may deserve further investigation in light of the potential connection between the Old Norse goddess name Ilmr and the Old Norse common noun almr ( Elm tree ), and says that "the potential of a protective tree goddess brings to mind a mysterious passage in the Prose Edda involving the rowan , in which the tree is referred to as [Thor's] bj?rg ['aid, help, salvation, rescue']". ^[3]

Attestations [ edit ]

In the Poetic Edda poem Voluspa , Hlin receives a mention regarding the foretold death of the god Odin during the immense battle waged at Ragnarok :

Then is fulfilled Hlin's

second sorrow,

when Oðinn goes

to fight with the wolf ,

and Beli 's slayer ,

bright, against Surtr .

Then shall Frigg's

sweet friend fall. ^[4]

The death of Odin (the stanza's "second sorrow") implies a first death. Scholars all but universally view this as a reference to the death of the god Baldr , Frigg and Odin's son. ^[5] Some translators replace the reference of Hlin to a mention of Frigg due to their interpretations of the stanza (see discussion in Scholarly reception and interpretation section below). ^[6]

In chapter 35 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning , Hlin is listed twelfth among a series of sixteen goddesses. High tells Gangleri (earlier in the book described as King Gylfi in disguise) that Hlin "is given the function of protecting people whom Frigg wishes to save from some danger." High continues that, from this, comes the saying that "someone who escapes finds refuge ( hleinar )." ^[7] The verb hleina in this passage is obscure and has yielded a variety of translations (see etymology section above). ^[5]

In chapter 51, the above-mentioned Voluspa stanza is quoted. ^[8] In chapter 75 of the book Skaldskaparmal Hlin appears within a list of 27 asynjur names. ^[9]

In skaldic poetry , the name Hlin is frequent in kennings for women. Examples include Hlin hringa ('Hlin of rings'), Hlin goðvefjar ('Hlin of velvet') and arm-Hlin ('arm-Hlin'). The name is already used frequently in this way by the 10th-century poet Kormakr Ogmundarson and remains current in skaldic poetry through the following centuries, employed by poets such as Þorðr Kolbeinsson , Gizurr Þorvaldsson and Einarr Gilsson . ^[10] The name remained frequently used in woman kennings in rimur poetry, sometimes as Lin . ^[11]

In a verse in Havarðar saga Isfirðings , the phrase a Hlin fallinn ("fallen on Hlin") occurs. Some editors have emended the line ^{[12] [13]} while others have accepted the reading and taken Hlin to refer to the earth . ^[14]

Modern influence [ edit ]

In line with a cultural practice to use Old Norse theonyms as personal names , Hlin appears as a given name for females in Iceland . Like other goddesses from the North Germanic corpus, Hlin receives veneration in Heathenry . ^[15]

Scholarly reception and interpretation [ edit ]

Although the Prose Edda identifies Hlin as a separate goddess than Frigg, many scholars identify Hlin as another name for Frigg. For example, Andy Orchard says that in Voluspa , Hlin appears to be just another name for Frigg, and adds that "the numerous occurrences of the name in skaldic poetry in poetic periphrases or kennings for women do nothing to dispel the confusion." ^[16] Rudolf Simek agrees that Hlin seems to appear as another name for Frigg in Voluspa , and that in skaldic poetry Hlin was a well-known mythological figure by the 10th century. Simek states that Hlin is likely simply another name for Frigg, and that Snorri "misunderstood her to be a goddess in her own right in his reading of the Voluspa stanza." ^[17]

However, in the same work, Simek also says that the goddesses Saga , Hlin, Sjofn , Snotra , Var , and Vor should be considered vaguely defined figures who "should be seen as female protective goddesses" that are all responsible for "specific areas of the private sphere, and yet clear differences were made between them so that they are in many ways similar to matrons ." ^[18]

Some scholars express uncertainty at identifying Hlin as another name for Frigg, and others reject the identification altogether. In a 2017 paper on the topic, Hopkins agrees with Simek's comparison to the matrons and compares the scholarly reception of the goddess Fulla , another goddess closely associated with Frigg, to that of Hlin:

"Like Hlin, the name Fulla ['full, bountiful'] may be tempting to dismiss as a reading error on the part of a Prose Edda author or as a poetic invention ... Were it not for the preservation of the cognate theonym Volla in the Second Merseburg Charm , Fulla would remain in a similarly ambiguous position like that of Hlin, easily overlooked, dismissed, or deconstructed ... the correlations between the Prose Edda and the Second Merseburg Incantation provide something of a cautionary tale: namely, by dismissing information found solely in the Prose Edda , one risks violating the foundational maxim of absence of evidence is not evidence of absence . There is no reason to doubt that Hlin was an independent entity in Old Norse mythology and no positive evidence to suggest that Hlin was merely a by-name of Frigg." ^[19]

Referencing the iconography of the early Germanic matrons, Hopkins proposes an alternate reading of the Voluspa stanza in line with the Gylfaginning description of the goddess. In Hopkins's reading of the stanza, Hlin's sorrows are her inability to protect figures close to Frigg: the first sorrow would therefore be the death of Baldr, and the second sorrow the foretold death of Odin. ^[20]

See also [ edit ]

• Ilmr , an Old Norse goddess whose name may mean 'elm tree'
• Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]