Four stags of Yggdrasill

Four stags of Yggdrasill

In Norse mythology, four stags or harts (male Red Deer) eat among the branches of the World Tree Yggdrasill. According to the Poetic Edda, the stags crane their necks upward to chomp at the branches. Their names are given as Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór. An amount of speculation exists regarding the deer and their potential symbolic value.

Primary sources

The poem "Grímnismál", a part of the Poetic Edda, is the only extant piece of Old Norse poetry to mention the stags.

It has been suggested that this original stag is identical with Eikþyrnir, mentioned earlier in Grímnismál. [" [N] othing further is known of the four harts. It may be guessed, however, that they are a late multiplication of the single hart mentioned in stanza 26", Bellows, p. 98.]

ee also

*Deer in mythology

Notes

References

* Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). "The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson". New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/index.php
* Byock, Jesse (tr.) (2005). "Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda". Penguin. ISBN 0-140-44755-5.
* Eysteinn Björnsson (ed.). "Snorra-Edda: Formáli & Gylfaginning : Textar fjögurra meginhandrita". 2005. http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/gg/
* Finn Magnusen (1824). "Eddalæren og dens Oprindelse" Gyldendal: Kjöbenhavn. Available at Google Books at http://books.google.com/books?id=MScOAAAAYAAJ
* Finnur Jónsson (ed.) (1905). "Sæmundar-Edda : Eddukvæði". Reykjavík.
* Finnur Jónsson (1913). "Goðafræði Norðmanna og Íslendinga : Eftir heimildum". Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmentafjelag.
* Hollander, Lee M. (1962). "The Poetic Edda". Austin: University of Texas. ISBN 0-292-76499-5.
* Jón Helgason (ed.) (1955). "Eddadigte" (3 vols). København: Munksgaard. Text of Grímnismál available online at http://www.snerpa.is/net/kvaedi/grimnir.htm
* Larrington, Carolyne (transl.) (1996). "The Poetic Edda". Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0-19-283946-2.
* Lüning, Hermann (ed.) (1859). "Die Edda". Zürich.
* Munch, P. A. (ed.) (1847). "Den ældre Edda". Christiania.
* Thorpe, Benjamin (tr.) (1866). "Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða : The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned". (2 vols.) London: Trübner & Co. Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/000.php


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