Gillingr (Old Norse:[ˈɡilːeŋɡz̠]; alsoGilling) is ajötunn inNorse mythology, and the father ofSuttungr.[1] Gillingr and, later, his wife are murdered by the dwarfsFjalar and Galar. In revenge, his son Suttungr tortures the dwarfs into giving him themead of poetry.[2]
TheOld Norse nameGillingr has been translated as 'screamer'.[2] It is a related to the Old Norse verbgjalla ('to scream, yell'; compare withIcelandicgjalla,Norwegiangjella, orSwedishgälla).[3]
InSkáldskaparmál (The Language of Poetry), the dwarfsFjalar and Galar kill Gillingr by overturning his boat.[2][1] When his wife hears of the news, she is "greatly distressed" and "weeps loudly" and the dwarf Galar, "weary of her howling", eventually kills her by dropping a millstone on her head.[4]
Then these dwarfs invited to stay with them a giant called Gilling and his wife. Then the dwarfs invited Gilling to go out to sea in a boat with them. But as they went along the coast the dwarfs rowed on to a shoal and the boat capsized. Gilling could not swim and was drowned, but the dwarfs righted their boat and rowed to land.
— Skáldskaparmál, 57–58, trans. A. Faulkes, 1987.
Gillingr is mentioned in a skaldic verse byEyvindr skáldaspillir (10th c. AD), who portrays the mead of poetry as "Gilling’s compensation".[2]
I desire silence for Har’s ale [Odin’s mead, poetry] while I raise Gilling’s payment [the mead], while his descent in pot-liquid [the mead, poetry] of gallows-cargo [Odin] we trace to gods.
— Eyvindr skáldaspillir, Skáld. 3, trans. A. Faulkes, 1987.
Gillingr is also a surname, although not very common.[citation needed]
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