Aurboða (alsoAurboda;Old Norse:[ˈɔurˌboðɑ] "gravel-bidder" or "gravel-offerer") is ajötunn inNorse mythology. She is married to the jötunnGymir and is the mother ofGerðr.[1][2][3]
The origin of the nameAurboða is unclear. The second part is certainly related to theOld Norse verbbjóða ('to offer'), but the meaning of the first element has been debated.[4][1]
Most scholars connect it to the Old Norseaurr ('gravel, wet sand or earth, mud'), and translateAurboða as 'gravel-bidder' or 'gravel-offerer'.[1][2][3] This interpretation is encouraged by Aurboða's relationship withGymir andGerðr, who have also been regarded aschthonic beings in scholarship.[1] An alternative theory is to translateAurboða as 'gold-bidder' by comparing the first element to a wordaur (from Latinaureus), as suggested by the depiction of Aurboða as a girl rather than a jötunn inFjölsvinnsmál.[4][1] According to philologistRudolf Simek, however, the testimony ofFjölsvinnsmäl is probably secondary, and the rootaur- is also found in the names of other jötnar and dwarfs such asAurgelmir andAurvangr.[1]
InFjölsvinnsmál (The Lay of Fjölsvinn), another figure namedAurboða is mentioned as one of the nine maidens sitting at the knees of their mistress the jötunnMenglöd.[2][3]
The nameAurboða is sometimes anglicized asAurboda.[2][3]
In bothHyndluljód (The Lay of Hyndla) andGylfaginning (Beguiling ofGylfi), Aurboða is portrayed as the mother of thejötunnGerðr.[3]
Frey possessed Gerd, she was the daughter of Gymir [corrected from Geymir]
Of the race of giants, and of Aurboda.
— Hyndluljód, 30:5–8, transl. J. Lindow, 2002.
There was someone called Gymir, and his wife Aurboda. She was of the race of mountain-giants. Gerd is their daughter, the most beautiful of all women.
— Gylfaginning, 35–37, transl. A. Faulkes, 1987.
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