Goddess and location in Norse mythology
In
Norse mythology
,
Saga
(
Old Norse pronunciation:
[s?ː??]
, possibly meaning "
seeress
"
[1]
) is a
goddess
associated with the location
Sokkvabekkr
(
Old Norse
:
[?søkːw??bekːz?]
; "sunken bank", "sunken bench", or "treasure bank"
[2]
). At Sokkvabekkr, Saga and the god
Odin
merrily drink as cool waves flow. Both Saga and Sokkvabekkr are attested in the
Poetic Edda
, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in the
Prose Edda
, written in the 13th century by
Snorri Sturluson
. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the goddess and her associated location, including that the location may be connected to the goddess
Frigg
's
fen residence
Fensalir
and that Saga may be another name for
Frigg
.
Etymology
[
edit
]
The
etymology
of the name
Saga
is generally held to be connected to the Old Norse verb
sja
, meaning "to see" (from
Proto-Germanic
*
sehwan
). This may mean that Saga is to be understood as a
seeress
. Since Frigg is referred to as a seeress in the poem
Lokasenna
, this etymology has led to theories connecting Saga to Frigg.
Rudolf Simek
says that this etymology raises vowel problems and that a link to
saga
and
segja
(meaning "say, tell") is more likely, yet that this identification is also problematic.
[3]
Attestations
[
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]
In the
Poetic Edda
poem
Grimnismal
, Sokkvabekkr is presented fourth among a series of stanzas describing the residences of various gods. In the poem, Odin (disguised as
Grimnir
) tells the young
Agnar
that Odin and Saga happily drink there from golden cups while waves resound:
- Benjamin Thorpe
translation:
- Sokkvabekk is fourth is named
- o'er which
- the gelid waves resound
- Odin and Saga there,
- joyful each day,
- from golden beakers quaff.
[4]
|
- Henry Adams Bellows
translation:
- Sokkvabekk is the fourth, where cool waves flow,
- And amid their murmur it stands;
- There daily do Othin and Saga drink
- In gladness from cups of gold.
[5]
|
|
In the
Poetic Edda
poem
Helgakviða Hundingsbana I
, the hero
Sinfjotli
references Saga in the name of a location found in a stanza where Sinfjotli
flyts
with
Guðmundr
. The location name,
nes Sagu
,
[6]
has been variously translated as "Saga's
Headland
,"
[7]
"Saga's
Cape
,"
[8]
and "Saga's
ness
"
[9]
Part of the stanza may be
missing
and, due to this, some editors have joined it with the stanza prior.
[8]
Saga is mentioned once in both the
Prose Edda
books
Gylfaginning
and
Skaldskaparmal
, while Sokkvabekk is only mentioned once, in
Gylfaginning
. In chapter 35 of
Gylfaginning
,
High
tells
Gangleri
(described as king
Gylfi
in disguise) about the
asynjur
. High follows a description of Frigg and her dwelling Fensalir with "Second is Saga. She dwells in Sokkvabekk, and that is a big place."
[10]
In chapter 75 of the book
Skaldskaparmal
, Saga is present among a list of 27 asynjur, but no information is provided about her there.
[11]
Theories
[
edit
]
John Lindow
says that due to similarity between Sokkvabekkr and Fensalir, "Odin's open drinking with Saga", and the potential etymological basis for Saga being a seeress has "led most scholars to understand Saga as another name for Frigg."
[12]
Stephan Grundy
states that the words
Saga
and
Sokkvabekkr
may be by-forms of
Frigg
and
Fensalir
, respectively, used for the purpose of composing
alliterative verse
.
[13]
Britt-Mari Nasstrom theorizes that "Frigg's role as a fertility goddess is revealed in the name of her abode, Fensalir [...]", that Frigg is the same as Saga, and that both the names
Fensalir
and
Sokkvabekkr
"imply a goddes [
sic
] living in the water and recall the fertility goddess
Nerthus
". Nasstrom adds that "Sokkvabekkr, the subterranean water, alludes to the
well of Urd
, hidden under the roots of
Yggdrasil
and the
chthonic
function, which is manifest in
Freyja
's character."
[14]
Rudolf Simek says that Saga should be considered "one of the not closer defined Asyniur" along with
Hlin
,
Sjofn
,
Snotra
,
Var
, and
Vor
, and that they "should be seen as female protective goddesses." Simek adds that "these goddesses were 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
."
[3]
19th century scholar Jacob Grimm comments that "the gods share their power and influence with goddesses, the heroes and priests with wise women." Grimm notes that Sokkvabekkr is "described as a place where cool waters rush" and that Odin and Saga "day to day drink gladly out of golden cups." Grimm theorizes that the liquid from these cups is:
- the drink of immortality, and at the same time of poesy.
Saga
may be taken as wife or as daughter of Oðinn; in either case she is identical to him as god of poetry. With the
Greeks
the
Musa
was a daughter of
Zeus
, but often hear of three or nine
Muses
, who resemble our
wise women
,
norns
and schopferins (shapers of destiny), and dwell beside springs or wells. The cool flood well befits the
swanwives
, daughters of Wish.
Saga
can be no other than our sage (saw, tale), the 'mære' [...] personified and deified.
[15]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Orchard (1997:136).
- ^
Orchard (1997:152) and Lindow (2001:265) have "sunken bank". Byock (2005:175) has "sunken bank or bench". Simek (2007:297) has "sunken bank" or "treasure bank."
- ^
a
b
Simek (2007:274).
- ^
Thorpe (1866:21).
- ^
Bellows (1936:88?89).
- ^
Guðni Jonsson ed., verse 39,
a nesi Sagu
.
- ^
Larrington (1999:119).
- ^
a
b
Bellows (1923:112).
- ^
Grimm (1883:910).
- ^
Faulkes (1995:29).
- ^
Faulkes (1995:175).
- ^
Lindow (2001:265).
- ^
Grundy (1999:62).
- ^
Nasstrom (1996:88?89).
- ^
Grimm (1883:910-911).
References
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Saga
.
- Bellows, Henry Adams
(Trans.) (1923).
The Poetic Edda: Translated from the Icelandic with an introduction and notes by Henry Adams Bellows
. New York:
The American-Scandinavian Foundation
.
- Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1936).
The Poetic Edda
.
Princeton University Press
. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2005).
The Prose Edda
.
Penguin Classics
.
ISBN
0-14-044755-5
- Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995).
Snorri Sturluson: Edda
. First published in 1987. London: Everyman.
ISBN
0-460-87616-3
- Grimm, Jacob
(James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1888).
Teutonic Mythology: Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix by James Stallybrass
. Volume III. London: George Bell and Sons.
- Grundy, Stephan
(1999). "Freyja and Frigg" as collected in Billington, Sandra and Green, Miranda.
The Concept of the Goddess
.
Routledge
.
ISBN
0-415-19789-9
- Guðni Jonsson
(Ed.)
Helgakviða Hundingsbana I
.
online at Heimskringla project
.
- Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.) (1999).
The Poetic Edda
.
Oxford World's Classics
.
ISBN
0-19-283946-2
- Lindow, John
(2001).
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs
. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
0-19-515382-0
- Nasstrom, Britt-Mari (1996). "Freyja and Frigg - two aspects of the Great Goddess" as presented in
Shamanism and Northern Ecology: Papers presented at the Regional Conference on Circumpolar and Northern Religion, Helsinki, May 1990
.
Walter de Gruyter
.
ISBN
3-11-014186-8
- Orchard, Andy (1997).
Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend
.
Cassell
.
ISBN
0-304-34520-2
- Simek, Rudolf
(2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer.
ISBN
0-85991-513-1
- Thorpe, Benjamin
(Trans.) (1866).
Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða: The Edda of Sæmund the Learned.
Part I. London: Trubner & Co.
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